Twilight Rewritten
by arianem
Summary: As the title suggests, I have re written twilight. Same general plot but more interesting with bigger conflict and fewer scientific inaccuracies. Please review since that was the point but also remember that this is a work in progress.
1. Preface

The woman – barely more than a girl – fingered the smudged note, written on lined paper, that she had just placed beside her husband's still, sleeping form. She regretted that she couldn't say goodbye to his face, but was also glad. She didn't want to see the pain and betrayal that would fill his expressive, beautiful face.

That was what had first caught her attention in highschool. He had been a senior, two years older but they'd stayed in touch after he graduated. They married the year she graduated, a nice story book wedding with white cake, a poofy white dress, and her father in tears as he walked her down the isle.

Everyone thought it was so sweet, a match made in heaven, heck even she was convinced it was her happily ever after. Only her sensible sister had wondered if things might have been going a little to fast. Things had been a little shaky at first – the new bride had grown up in Texas and the rain in Forks didn't help the stress of new marriage – but then she'd gotten pregnant and things seemed to settle down, at least for a while.

Everyone was happy an then... then something had changed. Something had gone wrong. She had fallen out of love perhaps. It had nagged and nagged at the back of her mind, the rain always keeping her up, the low hanging clouds always seeming like they were pushing her down.

And that wasn't the only problem. It wasn't like she wanted a divorce or she wanted to leave her husband... she just wanted it to go away. She just want to be free not only of the stupid ice water that was constantly pouring down but of the marriage itself. Even it had it's own oppressing force and she'd kept thinking why she had never wondered what happened after after the happily ever after. She had certainly never imagined it going like this.

She was sure now that it had been a mistake. She'd been too young, gone at it too quick, and now she was stuck. It wasn't that she hated or even disliked her husband or her beautiful baby girl, but the whole thing was just too much.

As if to remind her of her purpose, rain began to fall against the roof of the house. The woman slipped quietly out of the room and tiptoed down the hallway to where a baby girl – her baby girl – lay sleeping quietly. She ran a mental checklist of the things she needed. Her thick coat was already wrapped around her, in one pocket was the too-small wad of bills that she had managed to scrounge up over the past few weeks, a duffel bag filled with clothes, various protein bars, and baby formula powder, waited by the front door. She wished again that she could take the car, but taking her husbands police cruiser would probably be illegal not to mention she would stick out like a sore thumb. Besides, she didn't want to take any part of him with her. It hurt too much.

She blinked back tears and gently lifted the peaceful child out of her crib, wrapping her in her blanket, decorated with pink teddy bears. As the tiny girl was lifted into her mother's arms, a piercing wail escaped her lips.

A man's voice came from the bedroom, accompanied by the sound of someone trying to quickly free themselves of numerous blankets. "Bella? Bella, shh, it's okay! Renée, can you get her bottle? Shh, Bella, I'm coming!"

The woman – Renée – looked around frantically before dashing down the stairs. She snatched up the duffel bag and opened the door but a hand caught her arm before she could step though it.

"Renée?" a man's voice asked, filled with confusion and pain.

She took a deep breath. She had hoped not to do this. Selfishly she had left the note, cold and distant, rather than face the pain of telling him herself. _Coward, _she thought bitterly."Charlie, I'm leaving," she said, unable to look him in the eye.

"What – why?"

"I don't want this anymore. I can't stay here."

"What do you mean?"

She couldn't help it then. All the thoughts bundled inside her that had been building up for months finally burst out. "I hate it here! I'm sick of it. I don't want to be a part of this! I don't want to be that stupid back country hic that gets married right out of highschool. I'm leaving! I'm leaving before I get stuck here and waste the rest of my life in this blasted swamp."

He was stunned for a moment. "But -"

"No Charlie. I'm leaving! I don't want this. I want out! I want out of this town, I want out of this marriage, I want out of this life! Let me go!" She yanked her arm out of his grip and took a step forward but his tear-filled voice stopped her when his hands didn't.

"No! Stay! Please, wait until tomorrow! Let's talk this over!"

She was gasping with tears, because the fact was, she knew that he didn't deserve this. But she couldn't stay. "I can't," she choked out through the tears.

"Renée, honey, I love you. Stay," he begged.

Renée bit her lip, tears streaming freely down her face. "No."

Clutching the baby in her arms more tightly, Renée hurried out of the house and all but ran down the black street, her past disappearing into the darkness behind her.


	2. Introductions

I sighed as I stared out the window of my mothers blue Austin mini, almost the same shade as the cloudless sky of my home in Arizona. My soon-to-be-former home. The cool afternoon breeze rifled through the lace on my favorite top and I shivered in anticipation of the weather that would greet be at my destination.

I was on my way to the airport where I would go to live with my father in Forks, Washington. I was sure it wasn't the rainiest place on earth, but in comparison to the hot, dry climate of phoenix, it might as well have been.

I hadn't seen my father in over a year, and even then, I'd only visited him one month out of twelve. My mother hadn't returned to Forks since she left almost seventeen years ago with me. It wasn't that she disliked my father – he was a very charismatic guy, she married him after all – but she hated the town more than she hated anything else in the world and it triggered her claustrophobia.

I wished she could come with me but she and Phil had to leave for Florida tomorrow and much as she loved me, my mom didn't want to go.

She seemed to catch something of my thoughts in my expression. "Look, honey, you don't have to do this. If you want to stay... we can work something out."

I sighed. It was tempting. But I knew that I couldn't stay without my parents having to make some extreme sacrifices. Things weren't going too well at the school my mother taught at and Phil didn't have a change of getting hired here. If I stayed, they wouldn't be able to go and I didn't want to do that to them. Besides, Charlie deserved some company after living on his own for seventeen years.

"I'm fine, Mom. I'll be okay."

"Ohh... Honey I'm going to miss you so much!"

"I'm going to miss you,too."

"Alright, here's my new phone number in case you have to call – which, you know what, call me as soon as you arrive."

"Yes, Maam. I mean Mom."

She looked at me sternly. She was almost a full fort shorter than I but she spent all day teaching kindergardeners. That was something you can't do without strong authority.

"Email me as often as you can to tell me what's going on, and remember, you can come home whenever you want. Aww, hon," she made a face and pulled me into a warm hug.

"I'll miss you, Mom. But, really, I'll be okay."

"Yeah. Well give Charlie my love and all that jazz."

"Yeah. I've got to go mom. My plane will probably be boarding soon."

"Okay – one more hug."

I smiled and hugged her again.

"Well, tell Charlie I said hi."

I spent most of the plane ride trying in vain to sleep. As we got close to Port Angeles, I looked out the window and tried to pick out my dad's Black and white police cruiser from the parking lot. I couldn't but I figured he'd be there anyway.

As it turned out, I was right. He was waiting for me as I came out into the lobby.

"Hey, Bells. It's good to see you." he said, giving me a quick hug and then picking up my bags.

"Yeah, you too." That was pretty much it for greetings. Unlike my mother, my father and I aren't incredibly talkative.

For the first half of our drive, I jusst stared out the window and admired the thick, green scenery. Eventually Charlie spoke.

"Hey, Bells, do you remember Billy Black? My friend from the Quileute reservation?"

I thought about that for a second. "It's seems to be ringing a bell but I can't say I do."

"Yeah? Well you had said you wanted a car and – cause he's in a wheelchair now – he has an old truck for sale."

"Really? What kind of truck is it?"

"Uh... I can't remember ff the top of my head but he says it's in good shape his son – you must remember Jake, you guys used to play together when you visited – he's something of a mechanic and he's been taking good care of it."

"That's good.... Uh, how much is it?" My family wasn't dirt poor but we weren't exactly the richest family on the block either. I knew times were tough and I refused to take money out of my mom's wallet. However, that meant that my car budget, out of money that I'd been able to save up from my Starbucks job, was not very big.

"I... I actually already bought it for you."

"Oh. Thanks, Dad."

"Your welcome."

After that we were more or less silent for the rest of the trip. My dad is really a nice but huge thanks made him feel more than a little awkward.

Eventually we pulled into the driveway in front of Charlie's homey, white house. It had been a long time since I'd been there but it still held memories. The Rust red truck in front of it was not as familiar.

"Is that it, there? Is that my truck?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks. It's great."

I looked over it quickly as my dad took my bags inside and decided that his assessment had been more or less correct. I couldn't be absolutely sure given that everything I knew about cars could be inscribed on the head of a pin but none of the parts were falling off so I assumed that it would work alright.

My dad was was waiting awkwardly for me when I came into the house. I couldn't see my bags so I assumed that he'd taken them to my room.

"Bells, you want to see your room?"

"Sure."

He took me up the stairs and past the bathroom to the familiar door at the end of the hall. Through it was the room that had been mine whenever I came down for a visit.

"I got some new covers and stuff – I didn't know what you'd like. You like purple, don't you?"

I smiled. "Purple's great."

"That's... that's great. I'll just leave you to get comfortable then."With that, he left the room.

One of my favorite things about my dad is that he doesn't hover. Mutely, I unpacked my bags and once they were emptied, I tucked them under my newly bedecked bed. I collapsed down on it, and tried to disappear into the cushions. As much as I loved my dad, I missed my mom and my home in Arizona and I need time to come to grips with all that had happened.

For one thing, I would have to grow accustomed to the raindrops on the roof. The drizzle had started about forty minutes into the drive and a quick look at the sky had shown me that there wasn't much chance of it ending any time soon. For another, I'd have to get used to living in a different house with a different set of housemates. I'd have to get used to going to a school with less than half the students that my grade eleven class had had. Forks high school boasted a grand total of three hundred and fifty seven students – three hundred and fifty eight, now I supposed.

All in all, I wasn't the happiest I'd ever been. Hard as I tried, I couldn't stop a few tears from leaking out the corners of my eyes. I knew my mother would know just the right thing to say to make me feel better if the situation had been different but it wasn't and I didn't feel comfortable enough with my father to talk to him about it. Even though this had been my choice, I wish it hadn't been necessary and that I'd been able to stay with my mom.

My mom. I got to my feet and hurried downstairs to the phone. Charlie looked up from the paper as I came into the room and I held up a finger as I dialed my mom's cell, signifying that he should wait. After a number of rings, the phone went to the 'The customer you have dialed is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later' message. She must have lost her phone again or turned it to silent. I dialed up our – her home phone instead. After the second ring, Phil, my step-dad, answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Phil. This is Bella. Is Mom home?"

"Sure. Just a sec'."

I waited patiently while I faintly heard a bellowed 'Renee!' from the other end of the line.

"Honey?"

"Hey, Mom. You said you wanted me to call as soon as I arrived so... Anyway, everything went fine. I'm unpacked and everything."

"That's great. I'm almost done packing myself – Bells, have you seen my cellphone?"

That explained it. "No, mom, I'm afraid I haven't."

"Oh well. Well, remember to call me when ever you want to and... and say hi to Charlie for me."

I leaned back from the phone and called "Dad, Mom, says hi!" Then, to the phone, I said, "Have fun in Florida."

"Oh, honey, we will. You enjoy yourself too, okay."

"Sure, Mom. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Hon."

With a sigh I hung up the phone. She sounded a lot happier than I was. I sounded a lot happier than I was.

"What do you want for dinner?" Charlie asked as I headed back to the stairs.

"I'm fine with anything, really. Whatever's easy for you."

He nodded and went back to his paper.

Back in my room, I decided to clean myself up. I wasn't a huge fan of traveling and the long trip I had just been on made me feel disgusting. I grabbed my bag of toiletries and headed to the bathroom.

After I'd brush my teeth, washed my face and combed out the snarls in my hair, I examined my reflection in the mirror. I had to say, I wasn't exactly a beauty. My skin was milk white, so pale that the blue veins were visible through it. My pale lips were rather uneven – the upper was to large to match the lower. My nose was somewhat too small to match my lips and didn't quite suit my heart-shaped face. My eyes were my one redeeming feature. They were a rich chocolate brown that gave warmth to my otherwise cold face.

I still didn't know how my skin had managed to retain its pallor in the Arizona desert where the sun shone almost every day of the year. It had been a factor that excluded me from certain cliques at my old school but hopefully it wouldn't be as noticeable here where the clouds made people look pale anyway.

Unfortunately, my odd features weren't the only thing that stood between me and finding a comfortable environment of friends. I was not a very open person and I found it very difficult to talk to people. I didn't relate to people very well and I never seemed successful on the rare occasions when I actually put effort into making friends. It was odd how one could feel so alone among so many people. I was sure I would be lonely tomorrow.

Breakfast the next morning was quiet. Charlie had stayed home a lot later than he usually did to make sure I knew where I was supposed to be going and didn't have any problems, which I appreciated. He still had to leave before I did but I felt better as I left the house knowing that he cared enough to be significantly late for work and actually knowing where the school was.

My mood was some what dampened, so to speak, when I stepped out the front door and into a steady drizzle that must have continued from the night before. It wasn't enough to soak me but it did make locking up much more unpleasant than it should have been. It was a relief to step into my warm, dry truck..

I reached the school with little difficulty, due to my father's detailed directions and the large sign reading 'Forks High School'. Unfortunately, once I found it, I wasn't sure where to park. I had come early today so that I could check in with the receptionist which meant that there were too few cars in the lot for me to guess. In the end, I simply parked near the glass doors of the office and decided that I could move the truck later if I had to. At least this way the walk through the rain would be short.

Inside the building it was brightly lit and it was warm and dry – though maybe it just seemed that way in contrast to the rain outside. There were chairs along two walls, interspersed with potted plants that seemed to be an effort to bring some of the outside forest into the room. The walls, which were decorated with brightly coloured fliers and announcements, were a pale mocha and the large counter at one end of the room mirrored their tones in it's dark wood.

As I walked up to the desk, the silver haired woman behind it looked up. She peered at me from behind overly decorated glasses and and asked, "Can I help you, dear?"

"Um, yeah. I'm Isabella Swan. I'm a new student here."

She nodded, clearly recognizing my name. "Yes, I recall. Here you are." She placed a number of papers on the counter and went through each of them with me, schedules, maps, and slips of paper for my teachers to sign.

I thanked her politely and asked where I was supposed to park. She smiled and told me and then wished me luck.

I decided that if I wanted to get to class on time and still move my truck into the right spot. I headed back into the rain and by the time I'd gotten my truck started, there was a distinct flow of traffic toward the student parking lot. I followed them and eventually found the spot where I was supposed to be.

Once I had parked, it took more confidence to get out of the car than it had the first time. I hadn't thought I would have problems with moving to the new school but I had a definite knot ion the pit of my stomach that was, if not fear, then at least nervous anticipation. _Come on, _I told myself as I finally stepped out of my truck, _they're just high school students. They don't bite._

My first class was English. I was glad when the teacher accepted my slip quietly and let me simply go to my seat without some big introduction. I didn't like having the spotlight.

As the class began, I went over the outline I had been given and was relieved to find that not only was the curriculum here very similar to the curriculum at my old school, but I'd already read Macbeth, and the rest of the reading list was fairly standard.

When the class ended, a black haired boy approached me.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Bella," I told him.

"Nice," he said, "you don't look familiar. Have we met before?"

"No, I'm new."

"In that case, it's nice to meet you," he said, extending his hand, "I'm Eric. Eric Yorkie."

"It's nice to meet you, too," I replied.

"Hey, do you need help finding your next class? What do you have?"

"Um..." I quickly checked my papers. "Government with Jefferson. Building six."

"I'm headed to building four so I'm going that way anyway."

"Thanks."

We grabbed are jackets and headed into the rain, which had increased.

"So where are you from?" he asked after a bit.

"Here originally but I've lived in Phoenix for the past seventeen years."

"Yeah? So this has got to be kind of different from phoenix, huh?"

"Definitely."

"Do you get much rain there?"

"Three or four times a year."

"Wow. What must that be like?"

I smiled. "Sunny."

"Yeah, I can imagine."

After about two classes, I was able to recognize some of the faces that were repeated and even the names of one or two of them. One of these, Jessica, walked me to the cafeteria at lunch and invited me to sit with her and her friends. She was significantly shorter than my rather average five feet four inches. Her hair was shorter than mine and much straighter, with gold tones that gave her hair the warm, sunkissed look that mine lacked.

The table she led me to was already mostly filled with people whom she introduced me to as we sat down. She proceeded to tell me everything I could ever want to know about the school and it's students. As she did, she pointed out the people around the cafeteria. Eric waved as she pointed to him and there were a number of people whose faces I recognized if not their names.

As my gaze panned around the room, on table caught my eye. The people sitting at that table were oddly intriguing. There were five of them – three boys, two girls. They didn't speak, didn't eat, though they each had a tray of food in front of them. They didn't take an interest in my gaze, even after almost five minutes of watching. In fact, they didn't seem to take an interest in anything, not their food, the buzz of multiple conversations, not the raindrops on the roof, not even each other.

They were nothing alike. Most of them looked rather old to be in high school. Of the two that didn't, one was small, the shape of her face almost elven. Her black hair was was short and stuck out in every direction. The other was a boy, his hair a rich shade of bronze. His jaw was angular yet he didn't seem harsh faced. His fingers were long and slender as they tapped the table in a pattern that I couldn't quite discern. He smiled of a sudden and the small girl across from him smiled in response, as if from some private joke.

The blonde boys mouth twitched upward in an echo of their smiles and the other boy and girl looked at them quizzically. The first two just shook their heads and the blonde woman shrugged and turned to the large boy beside her, clearly dismissing the others. When she turned to him, the large one's attention seemed completely absorbed.

To tell the truth, I couldn't blame him. The girl beside him was tall, even from her sitting position and her golden hair cascaded in loose waves down her back. Her eyes were large and dark, framed by delicately arched brows and her lips were full and warm. Really, all five of them looked beautiful, for some reason I couldn't quite pinpoint. Even the bear sized boy had a soft, handsome edge to his features. The other boy, the blonde, was truly gorgeous, longer and leaner than either of the other two but his jaw was whiter – whiter than his already pale skin – as though he had been clenching his teeth. Beautiful as he was, there was something about his too straight back, his too still body, his tense posture, his night dark eyes that frightened me and I got the feeling that he was more dangerous than he appeared.

I shuddered and let my gaze drift.

Oddly, my eyes migrated back to the one with the bronze hair, as if of their own accord. He was as handsome as the blonde in his own way. His eyes were just as dark as the other boys, but somehow they seemed softer, warmer. In fact, all of them had dark eyes, just as all of them had cadaverously pale skin and eerily beautiful features. They all continued to watch each other or stare off into space, oblivious of my attention.

Jessica, the brunette who had invited me to sit with her, was not. "Those are the Cullens," she said, something about her tone suggesting that they were more than a group of friends, or even just a family.

"Yeah?" I asked, inviting her to continue.

She shifted in her seat so that she faced me more completely. "They came down from Alaska with Dr. Carlisle and Esme Cullen just under two years ago. They're supposed to be adopted but they're all weirdly close. It's actually kind of creepy.

"They keep to themselves mostly, no one knows why. But listen, I went to go talk to Edward this one time – he's the one playing piano on the table – and... he was nice enough, I mean, distant, but nice... but I got this weird feeling, like he wanted to eat me." She shuddered.

I turned to look back at the group and jumped as I saw that Edward was staring straight at us. Jessica followed my gaze and nodded.

"And there's that too. It's like he has super hearing or something 'cause he can always tell when you're talking about him."

With some difficulty, I tore my gaze away from the boy and looked back and Jessica. "What about the blonde?"

"Which one?"

"The boy. He looks angry or something."

"Oh, him? That's Jasper. He always looks upset about something but I haven't been able to figure out if he's just stressed or if there's something else. It's not exactly as though I can just go up to him and ask him – I mean, he scares me more than Edward, even if he is hot."

"And the rest?"

"Hmm, let me see. Alice is the one with the black hair, Rosalie is the blonde – the other one – and the dark haired boy is Emmett. "

"And what deep, dark secrets do you know about them?"

"Oh come on! It's not like I stalk people just so I can gossip about them!"

"Sorry," I said, hoping I hadn't insulted her.

"It's okay. But now that you mention it, they really are kind of odd. No body ever sees them outside of school – except for the doctor – and even at school, they don't talk to anybody if they can help it. It really is as if they had some evil secret to hide." she shrugged. "I just haven't figured it out yet."

there was an insistent tingling along my spine that I was some how sure was because of the Cullens. Intellectually I knew that it was probably just because of what Jessica had been saying, but I couldn't stop myself from turning anyway.

Edward's eyes bored into mine. His brows were drawn together with concentration, or confusion, I wasn't which, but either way I was unnerved.

Someone tapped my shoulder and I turned to see a thin, brunette, her books clasped tightly under her arm.

"Excuse me," she said, "What's your next class?"

"Um," I bit my lip trying to remember without fishing out my paper. "Biology," I said finally.

"That's nice. I have Biology too. I can show you the way if you like."

Something about the girl's softness made me feel comfortable around her. "Sure."

She smiled. "I'm Angela, by the way."

"Bella."

"Yeah, Eric told me. We should probably be going."

I glanced down at my half finished food and sighed. I would have to eat faster in the future. I picked up my try and dumped it out as I walked toward the exit. The small dark girl was just ahead of me and I noticed that she was disposing of just as much food as I, despite not being distracted through lunch. How odd.

When I reached the biology classroom, I was disappointed to see that Angela already shared a black topped table with someone. I glanced around the room quickly and eventually found a free table. I sat down there and pulled out my map and schedule to study as I waited for the class to start.

I don't know what made me look up when I did but glanced at the door of the class room just as another boy stepped through it. Edward. I surveyed the room quickly but found that there was only one empty seat and that was the one on my left. He realized that we would be sitting next to each other at the same time I did and after a fraction of a second, he smiled gently. Somehow, though, it didn't seem genuine and the overall effect was unnerving.

"It is a pleasure to meat you, I'm Edward Cullen." his had moved toward me as though he meant to shake my hand but he stopped in mid motion and his hand clenched into a fist. His entire body stiffened, his jaw tightened, and his warm eyes became instantly cold and distant. His eyes didn't leave my face and I wondered what he had seen that had made him so upset.

"And you. I'm Bella," I replied, a little uneasily. He nodded jerkily and sat down without another word.

Unnerved, I put away my papers and clasped my hands in front of me as I waited for the teacher to speak. He finally did but I couldn't concentrate on what he was saying. My whole side tingled with awareness, every nerve and muscle tensed, ready to move. My gaze kept flicking over to Edward through out the class. He was silent, his gaze directly ahead and he seemed to have forgotten me completely. I would have felt much better for this if it hadn't been for the fact that his jaw didn't relax and his fists stayed tightly clenched.

The class seemed to drag on forever and when it ended I glanced at the seat beside me to find it already empty. As everyone gathered their things, I looked around but I couldn't see Edward anywhere. A grabbed my bag and decided I would just forget about him. I could get over the insult and the odd way he filled me with fear whenever he came near me.

I brooded on my way to my final class, gym, and was glad that no one had accompanied me. I felt like I needed to be alone right now and in the mood I was in, I was sure that I would have snapped.

We played volleyball in gym and hard as I tried, I wasn't able to avoid the ball completely. The one time I actually managed to hit it, I slammed it into one of my team mates' heads .

I rushed forward. "I am so sorry! My hands just don't do what I tell them to!"

"It's okay," he said, rubbing the back of his blonde head. "I've been told I have a pretty thick skull."

I smiled weakly. "I'm glad to see we won't have drag you over to the hospital."

He smiled a little too warmly. "I've seen Dr. Cullen plenty of times already, I don't want to add anymore hospital visits to my list." He frowned. "On that subject, what did you do to Cullen? Like did you stab him with a pencil or what?"

"I didn't do anything. Maybe he just doesn't like newcomers."

"That doesn't seem fair given he's hardly been here his entire life."

"Whatever," I said shrugging it off. "We should get back to the game."

"Sure," he said, a smile returning to his face. As he walked away, he looked back at me and called, "I'm Mike, by the way."

Oddly, though he had been nothing but pleasant, I was left immensely irritated by the discussion with Mike. I felt like I had been manipulated and the discussion had reminded me of Edward whom I had been trying to forget for the last hour.

I ducked as the ball wizzed past my head and sighed. I hoped this period would be done soon.

I headed back to the receptionist's building through the rain with something still nagging at my mind. Tucked inside my coat were the signed slips of paper that need to be returned to the nice secretary whom I had spoken to that morning.

I was relieved when a rush of warm air washed over me as I stepped through the glass doors. The relief stopped in mid-wave as I saw the person standing in front of the desk. I stiffened uncomfortably and sidled over to one of the chairs. Edward didn't appear to have noticed or taken any interest in my arrival.

I sat and listened unobtrusively to what seemed like the end of a long discussion.

"I'm sorry, Edward, but there aren't any other classes available." It sounded like she had said this a number of times before.

"Nothing at all?"

"No! Just was has Thom done to make you so unsatisfied with his class?"

"It's not him, it just..." he trailed off.

Just then I realized that I was sitting on the edge of my seat listening to the exchange. I made to pull back and in doing so I dropped the papers I'd been holding. Edward turned his head sharply and glared back at me as I gathered them up. I almost dropped them again as I saw the ferocity in his eyes.

Without another word, he strode out the door and into the cold rain. Somewhat nervously I stepped up to the desk.

"I think he's in a bad way. But don't worry, dear, I'm sure it's nothing important."

"Yeah," I said weakly, glancing back over my shoulder at the misty afternoon. I handed my papers to the woman.

As she took them she asked, "Did you enjoy your day?"

"I suppose." I didn't feel satisfied with my day, really.

"I think you'll do just fine here," the secretary assured me

There really didn't seem to be anything I could say to that so I shrugged and walked back out to my truck. When I got into my truck in the otherwise empty parking lot, I realized that it was the first time I had really been alone, without having to worry about someone else stumbling in on me As I pulled out of the parking lot I turned the heater as high as it would go and tried to burn away the tears.


	3. Relations

I felt somewhat better the next morning. It had stopped raining shortly before I went up stairs to bed so not only had I gotten a much better sleep, but the distant clouds showed the promise of sunshine later on in the week.

Charlie had left for work before I got downstairs but I didn't mind as much now that I was somewhat more settled. Besides, both of us were made more for private than for public and I enjoyed the calmness of my solitude.

The blonde boy from gym sat next to me in English and passed me a note. It contained only a joke and his name but he smiled at me ceaselessly as I read it, showing of his straight white teeth. Eric, sitting a few rows back caught my eye with a disapproving shake of his head in Mike's direction. He rolled his eyes dramatically and I shrugged with a small smile.

At lunch I was proud that I managed to remember the names of all the people at my table – it was the same table I sat at yesterday and I considered it my table even if I really had no claim to it. I enjoyed lunch until it came time to leave and I realized that I would have biology again and that meant I would have to sit next to Edward Grumpy-Gills Cullen. I normally had no problem with people disliking me, but the thing was that this had come on so suddenly and, in the back of my mind, it seemed that my body was preparing for some danger that I wasn't aware of – some danger that involved him.

On impulse I looked at the table where he had sat yesterday and was somewhat surprised to see that there were only four pale beautiful figures at the table. Edward was missing. I really wasn't sure which was the more dominant emotion when I discovered this, relief of irritation. The worst part was that I had a feeling I was the reason he wasn't here.

Biology did not work any better than it had the day before because I was just as distracted by the empty seat as I had been by its previous occupant. Hard as I tried to pay attention, I lost track of the class and when Mr. Banner asked a question for the second time, I got the answer wrong.

Other than that one, small yet unreasonably significant change, school was much the same as it had been the day before.

On my way home, I stopped to pick up the ingredients to a recipe I wanted to try. It wasn't that Charlie was a bad cook, but I got home much sooner than he did and frankly, his cooking did not offer as much variety as I would like. In the end, we had agreed that I would cook, at least most days, and I wanted to start it out on a good note.

When I got home I began mixing together the needed ingredients for the Thai chicken I was planning on making, watching a movie over my shoulder as I did so. Charlie came in just as I was finishing up the food and he set the table as I transferred the food onto serving platters.

"Smells good," her said as he sat down.

"Thanks," I replied, and then I placed the plat before him with an dramatic 'Voila'. I sat down and we dug in.

"So how was school?" my father asked.

"It was fine."

"'Dyou make any new friends?"

"Some. One girl Jessica who takes Spanish with me, a boy named Eric and a boy named Mike who are both in my English class, and... yeah."

"And they're bein' nice, and all?"

"Definitely." Except, of course for the missing boy that had sat next to me in Biology.

"Mike, you said? That's got to be Mike Newton. His parents own a sporting goods store. On the other end of town."

"Yeah, he said something about that."

We ate in silence for a few minutes. Then I said, "Do you know the Cullen family?"

"Like Dr. Cullen? Sure. He's a surgeon at the hospital here. Why?"

"I met one of his kids at class, saw the others at lunch. They don't really fit in with the rest of the kids at Forks high."

"Now Bella, that's not fair. Just because they're not from around here doesn't you kids an excuse to rag on them. Dr. Cullen has done amazing things for this town and alienating them is not polite or in anyone's best interests – your's especially Ms. Has Difficulty Walking in a Straight Line Without Injuring Herself."

"Well aren't you the scheming politician, now," I said in a dry tone.

He ignored me. "The fact is that Dr. Cullen is an amazing physician and from what I hear, his children are intelligent, polite, and they stay out of trouble. As far as I can tell, that makes their family okay in my book."

"Look, I didn't mean any insult, I was merely stating a fact. Anyway, it looks like we're both finished. I didn't make any dessert but I think I saw some ice cream in the freezer if you want it."

He sighed, agreeing to end the discussion. "Naw. Got to watch my weight and all."

"Right... Well, I'm going upstairs. I have some homework I need to do."

"Sure. Don't stay up too late."

"Okay."

He drifted toward the living room as I trudged up the stairs where sleep and math homework were awaiting me.

The next day showed very little change aside from the exact material studied. I was rather disturbed – more than I had been on the previous days – when I caught three of them watching me silently throughout the meal. Edward still had not returned and I wondered what it was about me that had chased him away and whether they watched me because I had affected him that way or because I affected them similarly. Either way, it was somewhat upsetting.

I considered approaching one of them about it but all four of them made me nervous and I wasn't angry with them so there was nothing to distract me from the eerie tingling that went down my spine whenever I considered any of the Cullens.

On Thursday Mike sat down at the lunch table talking quickly about some plan of organizing a trip to the beach. I was only giving him half my attention for the rest was focused on the novel I was reading as I ate. I had to say that I wasn't nearly as interested in Mike's 'Hey, I'm planning a trip down to First Beach on Saturday. Any one here interested?' as in the line in my book that read _I wanted to possess the power of your eyes_.

So I didn't realize the question was addressed to me when he said, "so what about you? It'd be no fun without your pretty face."

I wanted, I think, your soul, and that was too much to ask.

"Bella?"

I looked up sharply. "What?"

"Mike wanted to know if you were willing to go down to La Push with us on Saturday." Jessica sounded just slightly bitter about something but I wasn't sure what. I hoped she hadn't thought I was ignoring them on purpose.

"This Saturday?"

"Yeah," answered Mike, a too wide smile spreading across his face. "it's supposed to be sunny so we're hoping to get together for a trip to the beach. It'll be a new experience for you desert girl

"Actually," I said, somewhat frostily, "I've been there before. I was born here."

"Oh." His smile went flat. "Well, I suppose that you wouldn't want to go to such a boring place as La Push. It's too bad. I was planning to show you around, introduce you to some real Indians, may be show you how to surf..." he trailed off invitingly.

I shook my head and returned to my book. Now almost familiar, a shiver ran down my back from dark eyes on me.

Beside me, Angela spoke softly. "I'd like it a lot if you went. It would be nice to have someone to talk to. Jess is nice but she's grumpy about mike and she and I have very different interests in some respects."

I felt better knowing that Angela was going to be there. She read about as much as I did and it would be nice to get a chance to talk to her.

"Sure. But, you know, I'm not too happy with Mike, myself. I'm not sure I'll be any better, On that topic why is Jessica annoyed with Mike?"

She looked at me quizzically. "You mean you haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

Her her eyes flicked to her left and I followed her gaze. Jessica was stabbing her lettuce rather aggressively with her fork and shooting quick glances in Mike's direction.

I looked back to Angela and shrugged. "What am I supposed to be seeing?"

"Jessica's been trying to get Mike to ask her out for months and then you come in and within three days, he's forgotten everyone else in the school."

"So why doesn't she ask him?"

"It's not the same."

"Do you think I should let him know I'm not interested?"

"I don't know. I think she would agree that the only thing worse than just not being noticed would being someone's second choice – someone's backup plan. That's part of the reason she's so upset is that whatever happens now, she won't have been his first choice."

"That sucks."

"Yeah. Anyway, we should probably be heading to to class."

Together, we exited the room.

Friday was very different from the previous four days in forks for one very cold reason. It was snowing. I had only ever been to forks in the summer and even in the winter it was warmer and drier in Phoenix than in Forks. So I had never experienced snow before. It didn't take long for me to realize I didn't like it.

It was just as wet as snow but colder and it fell in larger clumps. Most of the people in school seemed to be enjoying it and when I arrived, I had to hurry into my first building to avoid the clumps of flying snow. When Mike took his seat beside me in English, his hair was soaked through. Noticing my gaze, he leaned over and said with that familiar, irritating smile, "If you think I look bad, you should see the other guy. I'll bet he thinks twice before he tries me again."

"Great," I said unenthusiastically.

"As long as we're on the topic, I'm planning an ambush after school. You in?"

I shook my head firmly. "There is not a snowflakes chance in hell that I would willingly subject myself to the risk of getting as soaked through as you are with thirty three degree water."

He blinked.

I sighed. "No."

"You don't sound all that enthusiastic. Isn't snow a kinda' new experience for you, desert girl?"

"Snow, I might get at least a little enthusiastic but I don't get why anyone would be excited about clumps of half melted ice. Besides, I thought snow was supposed to come in flakes – each one unique and all that."

He looked at me incredulously. "Are you telling me you've really never had it snow before? You've must have seen it at least once!"

"Yeah! On TV! This might be hard to believe but snow is not a common occurrence in areas where the temperature almost never drops below thirty two."

He shook his head in good natured disbelief as Mr. Mason called the class to order.

After trigonometry, Jessica and I walked together to lunch. I pulled the hood of my rain coat tight and covered my head with a binder to avoid the snow balls that flew across the sidewalk. Jessica laughed at my cowardice but I thought it common sense. I was sure she would agree when a freezing cold clump of snow in the face.

After the cold and wet environment outside, I was relieved to have a hot hamburger inside me. But even a the hot food could not help against the almost familiar shivers that ran down my spine from the dark eyes that I was sure were watching me. I was so used to the nervous awareness that filled me whenever I was near any of the Cullen's that I was able to keep myself from looking back to check. Barely.

As usual, it was something of a relief to leave the cafeteria and walk with Angela to the Biology classroom.

That was, it was a relief until I stepped into the room and saw that my table wasn't empty. There was a lean, pale boy, his bronze hair sticking up untidily. His sharp jaw was still clenched tight but his face softened around his eyes until they were almost the same warm liquid depths that I had seen on that first day. But there was something different about them – something I couldn't quite place.

It seemed my intuition at lunch had been correct.

He looked up as I entered and nodded only the slightest bit stiffly, acknowledging my presence. I walked to my seat, nervously clutching my books to my chest. As I sat down, a piece of paper, covered with biology notes, slipped from my binder and settled on the tiled floor. My mind flashed back to the papers I had dropped in the receptionist's office on my first day here and the hardness of Edward's night dark eyes as he turned to glare at me.

I reached down to pick it up but a pale hand flashed out and lifted it to the table. I looked up sharply at Edward and he looked back at me with what appeared to be a failed attempt at polite indifference.

"Thanks," I said, somewhat uncertainly.

"It's my pleasure," he replied, his eyelids lowering in something of a nod.

"Okay, okay, okay, quiet down everyone! I have some very exciting news! Today we will be studying the phases of mitosis. So -" he grabbed a box and began walking around the room, handing out microscopes and small cases of slides "- we are going to do a lab. Each of the slides I have given you captures a different phase and you are going to work with your partner to put them in order. Now, since we've been studying this for two days, this should be no trouble at all for those of you who have been paying attention, this will be no trouble at all.

"The first pair to finish, will win suckers from my secret stash. You have exactly thirty minutes, starting now."

Edward pushed the microscope towards me with a small smile. "Ladies first."

"Thank you ever so much," I said just the slightest hint of sarcasm to my voice. I looked through the eyepiece and examined the image beneath.

"Interphase," I said, pushing the microscope towards him.

"Min if I check?" he asked.

"Be my guest."

He glanced at the image quickly and then nodded. "Interphase," he agreed. He quickly wrote the answer down on the sheet we'd been given. His writing was impeccable. The elongated curls and curves of his script were the kind of thing you only saw on computer fonts. I would have said something but I was sure he would have responded with something like 'oh , this? This is my messy writing!'.

He glanced at the next slide, examining it for hardly two seconds before he looked up and said, "Prophase."

"May I?" I asked, a hint of a smile playing about the corners of my lips.

He gave me an answering smile, "Of course." he slid it toward me. As I took it from him, my hand brushed against his and I drew it back suddenly in surprised. His skin was freezing – literally. It felt colder than ice.

"I'm sorry. I have bad circulation and it gets even worse when it's cold."

It didn't quite seem realistic that his hands would get cold enough to sting mine on b ad circulation but it was cold outside and maybe I was imagining the the biting cold of his hands.

I nodded mutely and looked at the slide."You're right."

He wrote down the answer on the next line.

"You seem cheerful," I said. "Metaphase."

"What do you mean?" His voice seemed somehow detached, as though this were an uncomfortable topic.

The smile had disappeared from my face when his became fixed. "I mean that on monday, all you said to me was 'Hello, I'm Edward Cullen' and then you proceeded to ignore me for the rest of the class." Though I didn't mention it, I remembered his tight fists on the table top just inches from my own hands. Involuntarily, my eyes flicked down to where his hands were clasped loosely on the table, one holding a pencil.

If he noticed the direction of my gaze, he didn't say anything. "Oh... that. I get... headaches... sometimes... really bad ones. They've been keeping me awake at night recently so I had to miss a couple days of school. I hope you didn't take it personally."

It made perfect sense. Here I'd been, assuming that he was some arrogant jerk that had refused to talk to me because of some judgmental dislike when the reality was that he mere had medical problems. Maybe I was the judgmental one. But the memory of his cold, hard eyes raised goosebumps on my arms.

"'Course not," I told him.

"Metaphase."

"So I hear you just moved down here. Where were you living before?"

"We used to live in Alaska. We have some relatives up in Denali who were happy to have us nearby."

"I don't know you guys do it. I think it's plenty cold here and it only gets worse the further north you go."

"I take it you're not enjoying the snow, then."

"No."

"It's nicer in Alaska. Here it's too wet to see crystals often but back home the snow would carpet the ground – sometimes two feet deep – in bright white snow that glistens like diamonds in the sunlight." His mouth twisted oddly at that but I couldn't quite tell why.

"It's sounds beautiful. You're quite the poet. But, you still can't get snow without it being cold and I am not a fan of cold."

"Then why did you move here?"

"My dad lives here. My parents were moving to Florida and it would have been difficult with me along. Besides, it would disrupt my schooling immensely if I went down. They would be moving around a lot trying to get a job for my step-dad, Phil."

"So they decided to shuffle you off here?"

"No, it's not like that at all. I may not like the cold but this isn't just some obscure town they chose to send me to so that I'd be out of their hair. It's in my blood, half way at least.. It's just a little lonely."

"Where did you live before?"

"Phoenix."

"Ah. So this is quite a change, then, for you."

"Kinda, yeah. Anaphase"

"Well, It seems that we are the first pair to finish. Good work, partner."

"Thanks."

just then, Mr. Banner walked over. "Are you two finished?"

"Yes, sir," said Edward.

"Can I see your paper?"

"Sure," I said. I reached across the table to grab the sheet from where it lay to Edward's left. He stiffened as I did so and my memory flashed to Edward's cold, dark eyes. I pulled back quickly and handed the paper to the teacher but my eyes were on Edward, His jaw had tightened again.

""Everything seems to be good. I guess that makes you two the winners."

"Thanks," I said.

Mr. Banner disappeared back to his desk and Edward looked back at me.

"Did you get contacts?"

"No, why?"

"Your eyes are lighter. They were almost black when I saw you last and now their... gold. It's really nice. I've never seen anyone with gold eyes before."

He shrugged and looked away.

Just then, Mr. Banner returned with a glass bowl filled with various coloured lollipops. I took a purple one, Edward a green. Then the teacher returned to the front of the room and announced that the time was up. He proceeded to collect all the sheets and then show the phases of mitosis on the projection, explaining each one as it appeared.

Leaving part of my mind on the work, I let the other part drift. Mainly my mind focused on soft, bronze hair, a sharp, smooth, pale jaw, warm, expressive black – and gold – eyes. His rich voice filled my mind, ringing in my ears. After a while, I glanced over and saw that the seat was empty. I glanced around, confused and realized that people were beginning to gather their things together.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mike approaching as I grabbed my bag.

"Hey, Bella, it's too bad about the snow, huh? I guess we'll have to cancel the beach trip – or at least move it to another date," he said as we walked to the door.

"Yeah, shucks."

Not discouraged by my lack of enthusiasm, Mike continued, "But hey, maybe we could still get together – just you and me. We could go to a movie or something." He gave me a wide smile, showing off all his straight white teeth.

"No," I said absently. I wasn't really paying attention to our conversation. I was watching Edward disappear down the hallway.


	4. Impossible

It continued to snow on into Saturday and, though it had been warm on Sunday, the light snow had started up again by the time I woke up Monday morning. As usual, Charlie had already left so I just ate a quick bowl of cereal and then left, pulling my jacket tight against the cold.

About a foot away from the truck, My feet slipped out from under me and I was only saved at the last minute by the mirror on my truck that stuck out far enough for me to get a grip on it. Where I was from, I didn't often have to worry about snow, much less ice, so I hadn't thought about what the mix snow rain and sun had meant. The ground was probably covered in a thin sheet of ice. I'd have to drive extra slow.

As slowly as I was driving I still expected to have some difficulty but my truck seemed to handle the ice just fine. I reached the school without any problems, despite the ice and despite the unfamiliar snow. When I got to the school, I realized why.

There were thin criss-crossed chains wrapped around the tires. Charlie must have gotten up insanely early to make sure that I would be safe. Er. Water came to my eyes and I quickly wiped them away as I leaned across my seat to grab my bag. I felt a tingle along my spine that I had come to associate with the Cullens. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw three of the Cullens – Edward, Alice, and Jasper – standing together, talking. Edward's eyes were on me and he didn't seem to be talking much to the other two.

I smiled weakly and he nodded in acknowledgment but he didn't look away. Somewhat unnerved, I looked back to my bag which seemed to be snagged on the seat.

A loud, harsh squeal behind me made me turn quickly. Tyler's blue van was skidding across the ground toward me at what seemed to me to be a high speed.

They say time is supposed to slow down when something bad is happening. For me, it did the reverse. Several things happened at once. Edward's pale face twisted in an expression of utter horror. The strap of the bag fell from my hand. The squeal of the van's breaks filled my ears entirely. I opened my mouth to scream – which, on reflection, I recognized as a completely useless action though I couldn't think of anything better to do at the time. An insanely powerful force slammed into me from the side, moments before the front of the van crashed into the back of by truck and slid to the front, finally stopping against the curb – directly where I had been situated moments earlier. I had just enough time to realize this before my head cracked into the asphalt and everything went black.

When I came to, I decided that not much time had passed because if I had been moved, it would be so disgustingly cold. Pain shot through my head and neck and my left hip hurt – a lot, though not as much as my throbbing head. I opened my eyes and panicked when I saw nothing but gray. It faded quickly and I blinked and looked around in relief.

Edward knelt over me, one hand supporting my back and the other pressed into and odd hand- sized dent just above the grill of the van. I realized, then, that the van had not been stopped by the curb at all but by the same unstoppable force that had knocked me out of harm's way. Edward.

I stared at him, wide eyed, in a mix of shock, confusion, pain, and some fear. He stared back, shaking with what I could only assume was lingering fear from the insane action he had just taken. He glanced to his hand where it sat, embedded in the front of the van, and then back to me. He pulled back both his hands.

"Don't move," he said, his jaw tight as though from gritted teeth.

_Where does he think I'm going to go? _I thought, but I didn't move.

"Are you alright?"

I blinked, trying to process his question. Once I was sure what he was asking, I still didn't know the answer. I did a quick check of all my body parts – toes, feet, knees, my hip was sore but it was just bruised, my stomach felt odd, presumably from the adrenaline and the blow to the head, my ribs were sore but they didn't hurt enough to be cracked, my whole left arm from my elbow to my shoulder burned as though it were on fire, and the throbbing in my head had not abated but my brain still seemed to be functioning.

"Bella," Edward said, his voice rising in panic that was only barely noticeable amid the slow calm that he projected, "are you hurt."

What a stupid question. Yes, I was hurt. How badly? Well, how was I supposed to know? But, since I could hear and understand what he was saying and I didn't feel like I was dying, I mumbled, "No. My head hurts like hell, though."

"I can believe that," he said, with relief, though the muscles in his neck and jaw were still tight. "You hit it pretty hard."

I blinked again, trying to focus my mind on something other than the pain. "How did you do that?"

Some of the fear returned to his face. "How did I do what?"

"All of it. How'd you stop the car? How'd you get over to me in the first place?"

"Bella," he looked up to where I assumed people were approaching. "Bella, I need you to listen very carefully. When you saw the van coming, you lunged out of the way and it was stopped by the curb. I arrived shortly after, too late to do anything but try to help."

"But..."

"Bella, don't try to speak right now. It's very important that you do as I say. The EMTs are on their way. I'm... I'm sorry for hurting you."

"What do you mean?" I said, in grudging agreement. "You got here too late to do anything." But my eyes flicked to the dent in the van as I spoke. I didn't like lying but something about the desperation in his voice banished any other notion from my mind. I still didn't enjoy the thought of lying to my friends, though.

Edward smiled slightly at my words but it didn't touch his eyes.

Then the first of the crowd reached me.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?"

"What happened to your arm?"

"Are you hurt?"

"How'd you get out of the way?"

"What's the guy doing there?"

I couldn't connect any of the voices with the faces around me and the questions overwhelmed me until I simply decided to ignore them. I closed my eyes and waited, unable to really think about anything but my aching head and the increasing throbbing in my arm.

After what seemed like forever, someone spoke slowly and calmly enough for me to pay attention. "Alright, Bella, we're going to have to put a neck brace on you before we move you over to a stretcher."

I nodded weakly. "Why?"

"It's just to be safe until we know for sure that you haven't damaged your spine."

I nodded again and after a moment I felt something sliding around my neck. A moment later, I was being lifted, very carefully, onto something soft. I barely felt the stretcher moving but I felt it stop at a familiar voice.

"I'd like to accompany her, if that's alright. For emotional support."

"Whatever, we have to get going."

It was darker inside the emergency vehicle than it had been outside so it didn't hurt as much to open my eyes. Edward sat next to me, watching me silently. He had stopped shaking but he was anything but relaxed.

"What's going on?"

"We're taking you to the hospital."

"That's not what I mean."

"I know."

"Well?"

"I -"

"And don't tell me you weren't there or you didn't do any thing because that's bull and we both know it. How did you stop the van?"

"Bella, I told you already."

"Yeah. And I agreed that to use that story, but it's a lie and I know that. I think you owe me an explanation."

"I saved your life, remember. I really don't think I owe anything."

"Look, Edward, I don't want to seem unappreciative – I really am thankful that you saved my life -" something of a shocked laugh escaped my lips "- but what ever your secret is, I'm involved now and I need some answers."

He shook his head. "No. What you need now is to get your head examined. We're almost there."

I closed my eyes. His words had reminded me of the pain in my head and I decided that he wasn't going to give in now. So I would wait.

I let my mind drift, unable to sleep, but unable to focus on the now. I could have, probably, if I had wanted to, but at the moment it was much easier to watch from a distance than to be there myself.

Eventually, I was moving again. My eyes slid open and I saw the emergency entrance of the hospital approaching quickly. At this point I was fairly sure that I wasn't hurt but it would be nice to know for sure and they might even be able to give me something for the pain.

When we entered the hospital, the scent of bleach, soap and perfumes filled my nose until my stomach began to twist. I have a sensitive nose but even with that, I'm sure most of it is in my head, but all the same, the effect was often nauseating. I clenched my right hand into a fist and clenched my teeth, trying to gain control of my revolting stomach.

The hospital was very bright and the stark white walls and furnishings only increased the harshness of the light on my sore eyes. Even with my lids closed tightly against it, the light shone red through them. Sparks and swirls danced before my closed eyes and nothing I could do would dispel them any more than I could the throbbing headache.

At some point I was moved to a bed and though I was sure I was still, the sensation of movement continued. Nothing happened for what seemed to me like a long time and I was left with nothing but the pain, nausea, and shock which remained from the almost fatal accident. It was some time before I opened my eyes and realized that I wasn't alone. Edward sat beside my bed. He must have accompanied me inside.

I was just opening my mouth to speak when I heard a door opening to my left. I turned my head to see who had entered and then closed my eyes as the pain and dizziness returned with a vengeance. When I opened my eyes again, there was a man in white sitting beside me.

His hair was pale blonde and his eyes, like Edward's, were a warm golden shade, framed my thick lashes. Like all the Cullens, he was eerily beautiful in some way I couldn't name though he smiled without the same reservedness they always showed. Though he was sitting, it was clear he was quite small for a man who must have been in his early thirties. But despite his kind expression and his unimposing stature, he still gave off a sense of almost predatory danger that I couldn't understand.

"So, you must be Bella."

I blinked a few times as I processed what he said and then I nodded.

"Edward has said a lot about you."

He had? I had been under the impression we were mere acquaintances that had been less than friendly at times. My mind flashed back too his cold hard eyes the first time we had met and I shuddered. I hoped that at least he had been saying good things.

Then my mind finally caught up with what the man had said. This must be Edward's adopted father, Carlisle.

"Dr. Cullen?"

"Yes?"

I shook my head minutely. "I just wondered if that was who you were."

"Yes, I am Dr. Carlisle Cullen."

I nodded again.

"Alright, Bella, I'm going to have to ask you some questions. I suspect that you may have a concussion. Now, are experiencing any dizziness? Nausea? Headache? Difficulty focusing? Sensitivity to light? Ringing in the ears?" He pulled out a light and shone it in each of my eyes and I tried to keep my eyes open against the glare.

I nodded. "Definitely"

He placed cold hands on the back of my skull and pushed gently. "Is this tender, here?"

I flinched. "Yeah!"

"Edward said you hit your head pretty hard... when you leapt out of the way of the truck."

I frowned, too confused to be truly suspicious but something seemed... off, somehow. "Yeah... I wasn't able to keep my footing." It didn't seem believable to me, but maybe that was just because I knew what actually happened, not that the truth was particularly believable either.

"Yes. So, you have a concussion which is damage to the brain – a bruise, if you will – that is most often caused by a blow to the head. Yours does not appear to be incredibly serious so I doubt there will be any permanent damage. But you will probably have a bad head ache for the next five to ten days, as well as a few of the other symptoms. You can take some acetaminophen for the pain but other than that, just rest. You probably shouldn't go to school until you're feeling somewhat better, You probably wouldn't get much work done in the state you're in in any case."

"Okay."

"There's not all that much we can do for you except bandage all your cuts and scrapes and send you home, I'm afraid. Just rest, try to limit your strenuous activity, and if the symptoms get worse, Go home, get something to eat, and then just drink lots of water and get lots of sleep. Charlie's in the waiting room."

I nodded again then said, "Could I just have a moment alone with Edward, please, before I go?"

Carlisle's smile became somewhat fixed and his eyes flashed up to Edward's for a moment. "Of course. I'll need to speak with Charlie to explain the situation. But remember, rest. Don't talk for too long."

I nodded and Edward assured his father that we would be brief. Then he sighed and turned to me. "What did you want to say?"

"Edward, I need to know." I said.

"Bella..." He took and deep breath and thought for a moment before speaking, choosing his words carefully. "Bella, you hit your head very hard. It's possible that things weren't quite the way you thought they were. I may have helped today, but next time it could be something worse than a concussion – something more lasting. It's best if we don't talk about this anymore."

I raised my eyebrows incredulously. "Well, that was cryptic."

"Bella," he began, but I cut him off.

"I have to go. See you... later." I sat up, wincing at the headache, and rolled out of the bed. I stood still for a moment, trying to get the room to stop swaying around me, before beginning to walk to the door. Is tumbled on my first step and Edward seemed to appear beside me, grabbing my arm to stabilize me.

"I'm fine," I snapped, but I didn't release his arm. He was kind enough to ignore the amount of weight I was putting on it as we made our way to the doors to the waiting room.

"Bella!"

I tore myself free of Edward and ran to my father. "Dad!" I lost my footing as I approached and he caught me as I fell.

"Bella, you might want to slow down until you're a little more steady on your feet," said Carlisle, who sat beside him.

"She's never steady on her feet, even on a good day," Charlie said with a weak chuckle.

"Thanks, Dad," I said dryly.

"Thank you, Carlisle," my dad said, tears in his voice.

"I didn't do all that much. She's very lucky though. She got away with little more than some scrapes and bruises in such dangerous situation." His eyes flicked to me as he said this and suspicion flared once more. Then he continued, "As I've said to Bella, it's very important to get something to eat as soon as possible – to help with the shock – and then make sure she gets some rest. Also, she should probably stay home for the next few days to give her brain time to recover."

"Okay." My father hugged me closer as he spoke.

"Thanks," I said to the doctor, but my eyes flicked to Edward.

As I turned to go, there was a harsh male voice from behind me. "Wait! Were you... Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"

I looked at him blankly for a moment, confused. His hair was a sandy blonde that hung loosely to the nape of his neck. There were a number of bandaged cuts on his face and hands and there was a large bruise on his forehead above his left eye. Then I realized that this must have been the boy who had been behind the wheel of the blue van.

"It's fine."

"No really, I can't believe that happened. It must have been the ice – but I thought I was gonna kill you. Someone must have been praying for you or something but whatever miracle happened I'm glad it did 'cause I couldn't have lived with myself if I had..." he swallowed "done anything. And the guy – him!" He looked wide eyed at Edward "Are you okay? When I finally could see past the airbag you looked so close, I was sure I had hit you."

"I'm fine, but thank you for your concern. I came after.

"' just glad no one's hurt – permanently at least."

"What about you?" I asked, "You look like you got pretty banged up."

"It's nothing that won't get better in a few days, or keep me out of school which will suck given my driving privileges have probably been taken away permanently." He winced."But it's okay, I'll take that over being a murderer, any day."

"Actually, I think that it would technically be classified as manslaughter, not that that's much better."

"No."

"Excuse me," Carlisle interjected, "But the girl need rest."

"Yeah, I'll let you go."

"Yeah. Bye."

The boy turned and disappeared through the doors of the hospital and into the rain. At a look from Carlisle, Edward strode through a different set of doors and, patting Charlie on the shoulder, Carlisle followed after him.

"**Come on, Dad," I said, "Let's go home."**


	5. Friends

In the end I spent the next six days at home, and though the dizziness and such cleared up within the first few days, my head was still throbbing when I showed up at school the following Monday. After many enthusiastic greetings from my friends, I headed to English where Mike sat in his usual spot directly to my right. I was somewhat concerned to find that we had moved on to a new topic while I was recovering and the reading list was entirely comprised of books I hadn't read. My mood was not improved when Mike approached me and the end of class seeming way too cheerful.

"Hey, Bella."

"Hey, Mike."

"It's great to see you! You're alive!"

"Really? You're kidding,"

He smiled. "Look, I know it's supposed to be girl's choice but... I was wondering if you wanted to ask me to the Spring Dance the Saturday after next?"

I smiled weakly and sighed."I don't think that'll work."

"What do you mean? Why not?"

"Mainly," I said, real humour beginning colouring my tone for the first time, "because me trying to dance is not likely to be safe for either me or any of the people around me. I'll probably go down to Seattle or something fun like that."

"Are you sure? It'd be lots of fun."

"For you, maybe, but I doubt I'd enjoy it. Even so, that's not the only reason for my answer."

"What's the other reason?"

"Mike..." I sighed. "Are you blind?"

"What?"

"Jessica's been desperate for you to ask her out for at least the past few weeks and you either don't care or are just too oblivious of the people around you to take notice."

"What, Jessica?"

"Yes, Jessica. Are you telling me you honestly didn't notice?"

"I don't know – I guess she wasn't exactly who I was after." He smiled again as he said this.

I sighed. "Mike, I really don't know how to say this without being rude, but I'm not interested. Not just in you but in anyone. I'm perfectly content to be single."

"Oh." The smiled slipped. "I guess that means I'm not going to convince you to go."

I shook my head. "Mike," I said, "ask Jessica. Yo''ll enjoy it – believe me. But don't tell her you asked me first, or that I told you to ask her."

"Bella, I'm not that stupid. You can give me that much credit." He tousled my hair and I rolled my eyes and then we went to our seats as the teacher called the class to order.

Mike wasn't the only one interested in the accident the week before. It was the topic that seemed to be on everybody's lips. Unsurprisingly, Edward didn't seem to want to discuss it with me. All through Biology, I couldn't manage to get a discussion going because he kept his answers short and didn't leave any invitations to continue the conversation. Eventually, I just sighed with exasperation and gave up. He proceeded to watch me for the rest of class with a rather bemused look on his face.

I caught him watching me from across the parking lot as I packed my things into my truck. My gaze kept drifting to him past the rows of cars. His face went blank for a moment and then he rolled his eyes. I gave him a questioning look but he just shook his head.

I was still trying to decipher what that meant when I heard a voice behind me.

"Hey, hospital girl!"

I turned to see the sandy haired boy who had almost hit me on Friday. The cuts that had covered his face were now reduced to a single band-aid and the bruises were all but gone.

I waved. "Bella. I mean 'hospital girl' works but it's a bit of a mouthful.

He grinned"I'm Tyler."

"Nice to meet you."

"So I didn't kill you after all," he said

"Miracle of miracles. No, I'm tough." My gaze flicked to Edward and I saw him laughing. I narrowed my eyes and looked at him quizzically but he just shook his head again.

"Yeah." He glanced down and ran a hand through his damp hair. "Look, I still feel bad about what happened and I wanted to make it up to you somehow."

I shook my head. "No it's fine. Really, nothing happened."

"I know, but, I still feel like..." he sighed. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, would you like to ask me out to the spring dance?"

"What?"

"Well I'm just saying that – if you're interested – I would totally save you the trouble of looking for a date to the dance. Not that I that I think it would be hard for you to find a date – I mean, your good-looking, I'm sure lot's of guys would want to go with you. Well, not go, go, but you know – unless you wanted them to of course. In that case I'm sure..." He closed his mouth and took a deep breath. "Look, all I'm saying is that If you want to go to the dance with me, I'm up for it."

I smiled and examined my clasped hands. "Tyler, you said, right?"

He nodded.

"I'm not going. I don't dance. I'm doing something else that weekend."

"Oh. Well, then, I guess, have fun, then, with that."

"I will. And thanks."

He smiled. "No problem."

"Ty, are you coming? I've got to get to work and I don't want your mom yelling at me if you get home late!"

A tall black haired boy was standing by the back of a tan car with an exasperated look on my face.

Tyler glanced down again. "That's my ride. I'm grounded and until I can get the van fixed I have to rely on Ben."

"Yeah."

"Yeah. Well, anyway, I should probably get going.

I shook myself. "Of course. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah." Then he turned and walked away. He disappeared into the row of cars and I looked at the spot where Edward had been standing. He was gone, the weasel. Sitting there and laughing at my expense while Tyler made a fool of himself. He could have warned me or at least said something.

I sobered. Just one more thing I could add to the list of things Edward wouldn't say.

I shook my head and climbed into the drivers seat and then pulled out of the parking lot without another thought for the strange and secretive boy that had saved my life.

The next day Mike didn't sit in his usual seat beside me during English. I was surprised that it hurt, especially given how much I had wanted him to leave me alone. All the same, I'd more or less gotten over it by the time class started.

Eric approached me as I was getting my things together afterwards .

"Hey."

"Hi, Eric what's up?"

"Nothing much."

"That's cool. Same here."

"Yeah." We were silent for a moment and then he continued. "Um, I know we don't talk all that much but I was wondering if you wanted to got the Spring Dance with me."

"Eric, I'm not going." My voice was made somewhat harsher by the exasperation I felt.

"Right. Okay. That's cool."

"Look, Eric, It's nothing about you, It's just that I don't like dancing."

He shook his head. "No, it's cool. I understand."

"I'll see you at lunch right?"

"Yeah. Anyway, I've got to get to class."

I was quite relieved when I arrived at my Spanish class and Jessica excitedly explained every detail of how Mike had called her up the night before and asked her out to the Spring Dance. It was the friendliest she had been to me in in weeks. I had wanted to ask her if Mike was upset with me but there was no way to say why without hurting her feelings. Instead I listened patiently as she explained how excited she was and how she needed the perfect dress and she would ask Angela and Lauren – and me if I wanted – to go dress shopping in Port Angeles with her.

Altogether we were both in a better mood when we reached the cafeteria. It seemed I was on more or less good terms with everyone except Edward now and I hoped I would be able to squeeze some answers out of him in biology later today.

I looked up to the table where he usually sat with his family and I felt a sharp stab of disappointment when I realized that he wasn't there. I frowned. I remembered seeing him in the parking lot when I arrived at school.

I sighed and followed Jessica to the food. As I waited in line, I felt her tap me on the shoulder.

"Edward Cullen is staring at you," she said, sounding weirded out.

"What?" I glanced around the room and eventually found him sitting by himself a ways away. "Again?"

"What do you mean 'again'?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing."I looked back and he gestured for me to sit with him. "I think he wants me to go over there." I handed Jessica my empty tray and took a step toward him but she grabbed my arm.

"Whoa, are you actually going to go sit with him?" she asked.

"Yeah. Oh, come on. It's not like I'm never going to eat with you again," I said in response to her puppy dog eyes.

"Okay... Call me after school, though, and we'll work something out about the dress-shopping."

"I will."

She released me and I walked quickly over to Edward's table. As I drew closer he stood up and pulled out a chair for me, helping me into it before taking his own seat. When we were both seated he pushed a plate of pizza toward me. He lifted the apple by his elbow and began to play with it.

"So what do you want," I asked.

"Can't I invite you to eat with me without wanting something from you?"

I raised my eyebrows. "You never have before. Besides you didn't say anything to me yesterday; I assumed we weren't speaking."

He smiled. "I suppose you're right."

"So are you willing to talk about what happened?"

"No."

"I thought not."

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about Saturday after next – the night of the Spring Dance."

"You're joking, right?"

He smiled. "You said you were 'going down to Seattle or something fun like that', correct."

"Or something, yeah. Wait, How'd you know about that? I never told you."

He waved that away. "I wanted to know if you were interested in having company."

"So you're asking if I want you to come with me? Like a date?"

"Not exactly but that works."

"Look, Edward, I like you, but if we're going to be friends, I need answers – especially if we're going to be more than that."

"Bella, I can't give you answers. But we can still be friends – after all, even married couples keep secrets from each other."

"Even so, I think we should hang out a little bit before we decide to go off on private expeditions to Seattle."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well the gang is planning a trip to the beach for this Saturday. Come. Just hang – and no death glares?"

"Um, what?"

"Your death glares, they creep me out."

"I see..." he trailed off.

"So are you in?"

He hesitated before he answered. The hesitation was small but it was none the less noticeable and I wondered once again what secrets this boy had. "Which beach?"

"La Push beach, down on the reservation."

His shoulders slumped ever so slightly. "I don't know. It can get a little crowded."

"Oh... Oh, okay." I frowned and then shrugged. "Well I'm sure there is something else we can think of."

"I'm sure."

I glanced at the clock and realized that I was going to have to leave soon if I wanted to have a hope of getting to class on time. "Tell you what, why don't we figure it out after class. We usually have a few minutes before the last period."

He shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't. I'm not going to attend biology today."

"What – why not?"

He smiled and shrugged, "It's healthy to skip school every once in a while."

I laughed. "With all the school you've been missing, you're probably the healthiest person in the world, or in Forks at least."

"I suppose. I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Yeah, I guess so." I glanced down at my empty plate. "Anyway, I should be leaving."

"Well then I'll let you go. I'll clean up."

"'Kay. Bye."

He only smiled and I turned and left the almost empty cafeteria.

I luckily arrived at Biology before the class started. Even knowing where Edward was, his empty seat nagged at me as I sat down at the table. Oddly, something – something I couldn't quite place – almost made me wish I had decided to skip school with him.

My thoughts were cut off as the teacher began the class. He lifted a large box onto his desk and said, "Alright, class, so today we will be doing blood typing. There is a blood-drive in a week that I would like this class to participate in and before we do that I think it would be a good idea to know our blood type. I will be sending home permission slips for the drive after class."

At his words, my stomach clenched. Neither it nor I responded well to the presence of blood, even in small amounts. As the teacher began handing out the materials in the box, I grabbed the bottom of the table tightly, squeezing until my knuckles were white. I closed my eyes, convinced I could smell the blood already though no one's finger had as yet been pricked.

"So, here's how it works – Michael, your hand please. Using the micro lancet, pierce the skin on the tip of your finger." He suited action to words and though I couldn't see the barb of the lancet or the drop of blood that it caused, my stomach still twisted with nausea.

"Then," he continued, "using the applicator, place four drops of blood on the indicator card."

I couldn't smell anything but the blood now and my teeth were tightly clenched with the effort of controlling my rebelling stomach. It was funny how the blood never seemed to bother me this much when I was injured. Perhaps it was just because I was usually distracted then. There was nothing to distract me now.

I pushed myself slowly to my feet. "Mr. Banner?" I called.

"I already know my blood type and I don't feel very well. Can I go to the nurse."

He nodded in understanding. "Of course. Would someone please walk Bella to the nurse's office."

"I'll go," said Mike. That was sweet of him. I hoped he wouldn't mind if I threw up on him.

He hurried over to me and put an arm around my waist to support me while we walked. Normally, that probably would have bothered me but right now I was too sick to care.

I walked where he lead me, my eyes more or less closed and most of my weight on him. I continued to breath deeply, trying to calm my stomach and get in as much clear, untainted air as I could. Again and again I reminded myself that the blood was sealed in another room but though it did help somewhat, I still didn't feel great.

Eventually we got outside. I felt light rain on my face and I welcomed it for the splash of reality that accompanied it.

"Mike," I said, "Can we wait here for a sec? The rain is helping."

He stopped suddenly. "What?" he said, staring at me as though I had sprouted a second head right before his eyes. "Bella is enjoying the rain?" He held me at arms length and eyed me speculatively. "Who are you and what have you done with Bella Swan?"

"Yeah. It's pretty amazing, huh."

He smiled "But, seriously, Bella, he hadn't even pricked my finger when you started drooping. Besides, it was only a pinprick -"

I gagged. "Could we change the subject?" I rasped after a moment.

"Of course, Bella. I wasn't thinking."

"Let's keep going." Mike pulled my arm over my shoulder and continued to help me along the sidewalk.

"What's wrong?" said an alarmed and totally unexpected voice from behind us.

"Edward," I exclaimed, surprised because he had told me that he skipping school today.

"Is she alright?" Edward asked, still concerned though the alarm was gone.

"I'm fine," I said, at the same time that Mike said, "She's feeling sick. I'm taking her to the nurse. Actually, we're in a bit of a hurry. We should probably keep going." His voice was much colder than it had been when he joked with me a moment before.

"Let me take her," Edward said taking my other arm.

"No, we're fine," Mike replied tartly, pulling me towards him and away from Edward.

_Great, _I thought, _now they're playing tug of war._ "Or I could just go by myself," I said meekly. Neither of them seemed to hear me.

"Mike, go back to class. You wouldn't want to miss anything important."

"Hey, what about you?"

"I was headed that way any way. Just go."

Mike stepped Back rather angrily. "Whatever," he muttered, and then he cheered up as he said, "See you later, Bella. Hope you're feeling better."

I nodded and waited until he had disappeared back inside before I turned back to Edward and said, "That was a little harsh, don't you think?"

"He'll get over it."

"All the same, you didn't really need to step in – hey!" I said, as he pulled me into his arms. "This is really undignified you know." But I leaned against him, not minding how strangely cold his skin was. It helped with the nausea.

He shrugged,

"And what are you doing here anyway? I thought you were ditching."

"I was. I was listening to music in my car."

I raised an eyebrow. "You decided to ditch and you couldn't think of anything more interesting to do with your time than listen to music? No offense, I mean, music is great but..."

"I like music."

"Right. Well, in any case I'm glad you stayed. If you hadn't, I would never have gotten the chance to walk with – or get carried by – you to the nurse."

"Well, I wouldn't want you to miss that," he said.

"Of course not," I replied, nestling into his shoulder and closing my eyes. He was really comfortable and I was beginning to feel a lot better.

"Well, sadly, I'm going to have to set you down now." At my quizzical look he added, "you'll probably want to walk into the nurses office or she'll never let you go."

I nodded regretfully and walked through the doors of the nurses office, blinking blearily at the sudden light.

"They were doing blood typing in Biology," Edward explained and the nurse nodded.

"Well come and sit down over here," she said. "I'll see what I can do."

Edward came and sat next to me. "So what happened, exactly? I didn't really think you were the type to faint at the sight of blood."

"It's the smell, actually, and it pretty much all in my head. He wasn't even bleeding yet." I blushed as I realized how silly and fragile I must seem to him now.

Edward took a sharp breath in and I felt as his body tensed. He stood.

"What's wrong?" I asked, confused,

"Nothing. I'll wait outside." he didn't seem to be looking at me – instead he looked through me – and though his voice was calm, his fists were clenched.

"Wait!" But he was already out the door.

The nurse returned then,a cold pack in her hands. "Here," she said as she handed it to me, "Put this on your forehead."

I did as she said and leaned back against the wall but I was still to weirded out by Edward's actions to really relax. Instead I listened the nurse talking with her assistant.

"Is it anything serious?"

"No. It rarely is. Just the blood, bothering the squeamish."

"There's always one, isn't there?"

The door opened and cold air blew through the room as two more people entered.

"Two, in this case," said the nurse. With a sigh, I stood, freeing the cot for its next occupant. I caught myself as I stood and leaned against the wall. I closed my eyes and swallowed, fighting back another wave of nausea.

I staggered over to the nurse's assistant, the nurse being busy with her newest patient and said, "I'm really not feeling well. Is it alright if I go home now? I have Gym next and I don't think I'm up to it."

She smiled. "Of course, dear. I hope you feel better."

I smiled back and slowly made my way back outside.

Edward was waiting by the door, just as he'd said and he began walking with me though neither of us spoke.

As we were coming up on the parking lot I asked, "What was that all about?"

"What was what all about?" he asked, his voice ever so slightly too relaxed.

"Why did you randomly run out of the nurses office?"

"I think you're exaggerating just a little there, Bella," he said, something still not quite right about his voice.

"Come on, Edward, I'm not blind. Any one could tell something was wrong. You can tell me what happened." We had arrived at my truck and I leaned against it as I waited, hoping to learn something from him.

"It was just too warm in there, that's all."

Sure. It had changed that quick from one second to the next enough to set him that on edge without me noticing anything. And apparently he thought I was dumber than a rock.

I opened the door of my truck and tossed my things in. "Look,Edward, I know you have this whole mysterious act going on and you can't tell me anything, and that's fine. But I refuse to be lied to. I'm going home.


	6. Decisions

As it happened, Jess had a full schedule at her work that week and on the one night she had off, Mike had asked her out to dinner, and those weren't the only plans he was making. The party to the beach that we had been planning last week had been canceled when the snow hit but it had cleared up and things were looking warmer so we had moved the date to this Saturday. My friends were all very excited that I had recovered in time to join them and I had to say, I was too, especially now that the tension between Jessica, Mike, and me would have made it awkward.

Talk over the lunch table was filled with plans for the beach, dates, concern over the approaching exams, and, more and more, the upcoming Spring Dance. Glad as I was to have avoided going, I did feel a little left out of the loop. Angela did her best to to include me but she was as excited about it as the rest of them.

I did wonder, though, if my date with Edward was still on for that night, especially given our less than pleasant goodbyes the day before.

I glanced up at him, nervous about what I would see and, though I almost expected it at this point, I shivered slightly when I found that he was, yet again, watching me. At least he wasn't glaring. In fact, he didn't seem angry at all, merely apprehensive, concerned, or even just deep in thought. I hoped I hadn't upset him.

In Biology our conversation was strictly small talk – he wouldn't let it stray to anything more serious and I was sure he was specifically trying to avoid subjects like what had happened yesterday and the day of the accident. All those subjects seemed to have been deemed off limits.

I stopped talking to him about half way through the class because it just felt uncomfortable. It wasn't that he was being rude, or secretive, he just... seemed to distant, like it wasn't him talking. It made me uncomfortable – more than he and his family usually did. I watched the teacher and did my best to ignore the tingling that his presence beside me sent down my spine.

The weekend came all too quickly – and not nearly quickly enough when it came to Biology – and come Saturday our entire group of friends was gathered down at the La Push beach. I sat with Angela on a mostly dry log, my book tucked under my arm. She was crocheting furiously and I watched in fascination as the quilt square for the school's charity project grew row by row.

Most of the others were suiting up for surfing and swimming. I shivered. I was cold enough now and the thought of emersing myself in the even colder water was not in the least appealing.

Though it was sunny, the sky a warm blue with only a few clouds far off in the distance, a breeze had picked up just enough to make it too cold for comfort. All the same, my braver fellows went out and I was so interested watching as they disappeared under the water again and again that I didn't touch my book.

Jessica had left the waves and was drying her hair when I heard a voice by my elbow. "Bella?"

I turned and found myself looking into wide dark eyes set in a dark face. Thick black hair fell in long waves on either side of his face and his mouth was turned up in a cheerful smile.

"I know I probably should remember who you are but..." I looked at him helplessly.

"Jacob Black. You and I were friends when we were younger and your dad is friends with my dad, the whole nine yards. I actually restored the truck you bought from my dad."

"You're Billy's son," I said, louder than was necessary.

"Got it in one."

"Here." I scooched over to make room on the log. "Have a seat."

"I have a better idea. Why don't we go for a walk?"

"Sure." I stood and handed my book to Angela for safe keeping.

She grinned impishly and murmured, "Bella's got a boyfriend."

I raised my eyebrows and she laughed. "I'm just kidding, Bella."

Then Jessica spoke up, "I'm pretty sure she had one before."

"You do know I'm standing right here, right?"

They grinned.

I turned to Jacob and said, "Can we go?"

"So, what was that about?"

"They were just teasing about my 'boyfriend'." I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah?" he looked around. "Which one is he?"

"He's not here and he's not my boyfriend." At the moment. Who knew, though, that could change.

"So who is this famous boy who may or may not be your boyfriend?" he asked, his tone light.

"He is not my boy friend, and his name is Edward Cullen."

Jacob stopped walking."Did you say Edward Cullen?" he asked, turning to face me squarely.

"Yeah. Why?" I asked.

"They don't come here." The way he said it made it sound like they were not permitted, rather than that they chose to go elsewhere.

"What do you mean?" Forks was turning out to be a much more confusing place than I would have guessed from my previous visits.

"Supposedly, as part of a treaty, the Cullen family was banned from our lands over a hundred years ago."

"A treaty?"

"See, there's a myth regarding a species known to us as the Cold Ones because of their icy skin." His voice lowered, making it sound dramatic. I could hear the capital letters. "They had red eyes and pale skin and were inhumanly fast and powerful." he was definitely in full story-telling mode now. "They preyed on humans, drinking their blood.

"Did you know that our tribe is supposedly descended from wolves transformed by a sorcerer. Anyway, we got a group of our brightest and best wolf fighters managed to drive them off to protect the tribe." He sounded like he was reciting the words of a story he'd heard many times.

"Then one coven of them came, supposedly from the Cullen bloodline. They were different from the others. We agreed that so long as they didn't take a human life and stayed off Quileute land, we would not attack them or reveal them to the pale faces – those being you albinos."

"Hey, don't knock albinos. I'm one myself."

"Seriously?"

"Well, a sixty fourth or something."

"My most humble apologies."

"I'll forgive you – this time. Just don't do it again." I fixed with my most menacing glare. It must not have been incredibly menacing because he burst out laughing. His laugh was such that I had to join in so it took as a while to continue our conversation.

"So, you're keeping the Cullens off your land because of a treaty the ancestors made over a hundred years ago, even though they're not the same people?"

"Firstly, Bella, I'm not stopping them from doing anything. Secondly, it's just a myth Bella! It's not like any of it actually happened, but some of the elders are superstitious. The Cullens are simply respecting their wishes and staying away."

"I know it's not real Jake," I told him.

After that, our conversation turned to more current matters. He told me about the Volkswagon Rabbit that he was restoring and his two older sisters, Rebecca, who had married a Hawaiian surfer, and Rachel who was away at college. When it was my turn, I told him about my mom's new husband and my first few weeks in Forks. Any time we ran into one of my friends I would introduce him and vice versa.

One group of Quileutes stood out more than the other. I didn't actually meet them; they left a big enough impression from a distance. They were heading for the trees by the forest, too quickly to just be curious and keeping a tight formation that seemed to militant to be just a group of friends.

"Who are they?"

"Who?"

I nodded towards the group I'd seen.

"That's Sam Uley's bunch. It goes back to what I was telling you before. You remember the 'brightest and best'? Apparently they think they're it. They're pretty much a gang really. They call themselves 'protectors' and use the legend to make them look more important."

"Yeah, You're probably right," I said but my mind flew back to Jacob's words as he told me the story._ed eyes and pale skin... inhumanly fast and powerful... one coven came, supposedly from the Cullen bloodline... _and then I thought of Edward's disappearances, his odd behavior, and of course, the day when he had saved my life.

By this time we had gotten back to the place where my friends had gathered.

"Bella," called Angela. "We were about to go looking for you. It looks like it's going to start raining soon so we're going to pack up."

I glanced up at the sky. It had gone gray while Jake and I talked without either of us noticing.

"Here's your book," she said, handing it to me.

"Thanks." then I looked at Jacob. "Sorry, Jake. It looks like I've got to go."

"No problem. I'll see you around."

I waved and we all piled into our various cars. The drive back to my house was very short.

I woke the next morning in a cold sweat. My alarm clock sad that it was five twenty seven and the pale dawn light lit the room with a pearl glow. I was still fully dressed, right down to my boots, and my headphones still sat over my ears. I had been so tired last night that I had fallen asleep listening to my I-pod. Which usually would have meant a dreamless sleep but I was not so lucky.

I had been walking along the La Push beach, the sun shining brightly over head. In the distance, a group of people that I knew somehow were the Cold Ones hovered by the forest edge. Out of the corner of my eye I'd saw Sam Uley leading his gang towards them and then they disappeared into the thick trees.

Intrigued, I followed after them but was stopped by a hand on my arm. Mike had come up behind me, smiling.

"It's time to go, Bella," he said.

"Just a sec," I replied, but he didn't let go.

"We have to go!" he said, more anxiously this time.

I looked at the trees, wanting to see what had happened. I ran towards them, mike having disappeared.

"It's not safe," said Jacob as he ran beside me.

I ignored him and picked up the pace. He picked up the pace as well and his paws pounded heavily against the damp sand.

Finally I broke through the trees into the forest and stumbled through the mix of leaves and moss and branches that covered the ground.

Then something changed. The forest seemed to take on an oppressive air and my interest turned to fear. Jacob growled beside me and I stopped moving, looking around myself anxiously. Then I heard someone approaching and I looked up to see Edward. Tall and pale he walked slowly towards me and I grimaced at his eyes that shone bright red.

"Bella," he said and he reached for me. I felt compelled to go to him but some shred of sanity held me back. He smiled baring sharp fangs and then I collapsed, unable to hear, barely able to see, and feeling more terrified than I had ever felt in my life. A black wolf leapt at Edward, knocking him to the ground.

That was when I had woken up panting and sweating and trying to convince myself that it wasn't real. I could feel the fear slowly draining away but there were a few things that remained. The dream had called up the doubts of the day before that I had shoved into a back corner of my mind and I couldn't put them back.

Of course I knew that the whole thing was impossible. But a small part of my mind couldn't help but wonder... what if it wasn't. I kept reminding myself of how ridiculous the whole thing was, how none of this made sense but my mind kept circling back. Eventually I sighed and rolled out of bed grabbing my laptop and and loading it up. I had some research to do.

Once I got the internet working I loaded up my favorite searching engine and started reading. It didn't take me long to realize that lots of people were willing to talk about vampires. The problem was, most of the time they didn't agree, even when they seriously discussing vampires. I spent a long time sifting out the fictional vampires that everyone seemed compelled to write about and after forty-five minutes of searching, I had nothing definite. Very little of what I found matched what I knew to be true but again and again, one trait would match and I would begin to wonder once more.

Finally I slammed the laptop shut in disgust and head downstairs, grabbing my raincoat before I slipped out the door.

Charlie's cruiser was gone from the driveway and I guessed that he must have gone fishing – just the way he did every weekend, more or less. I had to admit I was glad that he was gone. I needed to be alone right now. I didn't want an audience to this insanity.

I headed off into the woods that began a short distance from my house and followed a trail worn through it. It was raining lightly and under the trees, the dripping water from the branches made a rather unpleasant addition. For a long time I just walked, not thinking of anything in particular, just losing myself in the mechanical rhythm of my footsteps and the constant sound of falling raindrops all around me.

Inevitably though, my mind circled back to Edward. Questions filled my head and I had answers to so few of them that I only grew more frustrated. It didn't help that my feet were beginning to hurt from the walking along the hard trail.

I stepped off the trail aways and sat down on a log that had conveniently fallen between two trees so that it was more or less dry. I pulled my jacket more tightly about my self and started thinking.

So far, I was sure of three things. First, Edward was not human, at least not entirely. No human should have able to stop a speeding van with his bare hands. Second, he was hiding something. He had admitted to it on the way to the hospital and in his refusal to discuss things after. He definitely had some deep, dark secret that he didn't want me to be a part of. And third, something had happened between the Cullens and the Quileutes at some point. Even if the Cullens weren't 'Cold Ones' who had made a treaty with the Quileutes, something must have happened to make the people down on the reservation believe it.

Vampirism, as crazy as it sounded, even to me, seemed like the only answer. Put together, it made too much sense and there was no way that it could be entirely coincidence. Speed, strength, his cold, pale skin, the odd cadences in his speech, the strangely predatory aura that he put off, his behavior when we had first met, his disappearances, and of course his eyes...

His eyes. They were a point against the vampire theory as well because everyone agreed, even Jacob's legend, that vampires were supposed to have red eyes. Not to mention the fact that he was awake during the day. It didn't really work.

Still... It had to. The idea which had seemed so insane, so paranoid in the house seemed much more believable here in the forest that was so alike to the scene in my dream. So, as crazy as it sounded, Edward must be a... vampire, or something like it. The rest of his family, too, most likely.

But what was I going to do about it? It wasn't like I could confirm my guess. It wasn't like I could just go up to him and say, 'Hey, do you drink blood?' or better yet, 'Hey, I know you're a vampire'. Heck I was still unconvinced that I wasn't just crazy. After all, I had just decided that the boy who sat next to me in my grade eleven Biology class was a vampire. How much closer to crazy could you get?

Crazy as it was, though, it fit. Somehow it seemed like the right answer. And what was I going to do about it? I would go to school the next day to make sure I finished all my courses. As for the rest of it, well... Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.


	7. Port Angeles

We had decided on Wednesday for dress shopping the week before. Lauren had canceled, which I had to admit was something of a relief since Lauren had a rather sour personality, but Angela and Jessica were still going and I was still welcome to come along, she assured me. I agreed, more because I didn't want to sit around the house all night than because I wanted to look at dresses but Jessica was glad I was coming anyway.

She spent our first two classes together explaining what kind of dress she wanted until I wondered why she thought she'd need my advice at all, and was still talking when we got to the cafeteria for lunch, though the subject had migrated to the dinner that she had gone on with Mike the night before.

It wasn't that I wasn't that I wasn't interested in what she was saying, but I was finding it difficult to concentrate on her words. I had been stressing about what would happen when I saw Edward again all day, even though I knew that logically nothing would have changed. I don't know if it was relief or disappointment that caused me to freeze at that entrance to the cafeteria, staring at the empty table where he usually sat with his family.

"Looking for the Cullens?" Jessica asked.

I looked at her sharply. I hadn't realized I was being that obvious.

She gave a small smile and said, "They never come to school when it's nice out. I think their dad takes them camping or something."

"Oh."

She picked up the conversation right where she'd left off as though it hadn't been interrupted. The day continued more or less in the same fashion as it had begun but my mind kept returning to the dilemma of Edward even though he wasn't in the school. I hoped that the dress shopping would take my mind off him but I was fairly sure it wouldn't.

After school, I had barely gotten out of my truck when Jessica pulled up and honked her horn. I dashed inside to grab my rarely used purse and then slid into the backseat beside Angela. Quickly checking to make sure we had everything we needed, Jessica pulled pulled out and sped off down the road.

Port Angeles, our destination, was a sweet little tourist trap approximately one hour away from Forks. I had only been there a few times and only to visit the airport. Jessica went there regularly as it had the nearest mall.

She and Angela knew it fairly well, so they led me straight past the quaint boardwalk that I would likely have stopped at without their guidance. They took me to a department store some distance from the rows of shops which were the first things you saw as you entered the town, and then directly to the women's clothing section.

Since the dance had been billed as 'semi-formal', none of us were entirely sure what kind of dress we wanted but we were fairly sure that the store would have what we were looking for. After a little over an hour of trying on dresses and asking each other's advice and examining themselves in the mirrors, Angela and Jess had both found dresses that suited them and we left the store feeling only mildly worn out.

We had, however, ended our shopping much sooner than we had expected and we decided to explore the town for a while before going for dinner. We spent some time meandering through the Port Angeles mall and eventually we decided we were hungry and it was time for dinner. I was a few steps away from Jessica's car when I realized that I'd left my purse in one of the earlier stores that we had visited.

"Do you want us to come, or... We can just wait here if you want," Jess told me.

"No that's okay," I said. "You guys go on ahead. I'll meet you there – it's the Bella Italia, right?"

She nodded and I headed back into the mall. It took me far longer than I had expected to find my purse. I was almost ready to give up when a shop clerk caught my eye and beckoned me inside. He had noticed my purse and tucked it safely away behind the counter. He kindly gave it to me along with directions to the Bella Italia. I thanked him and left.

By the time I got out of the mall, the sky was already darkening and twilight was beginning to set in. I was beginning to wonder if I should have asked my friends to come with me but I tucked my bag firmly against my side and set out in what I hoped was the right direction.

After walking for a few minutes, I heard male voices from across the street. There were five or six men laughing and joking loudly, most with beers in hand. I rolled my eyes and picked up the pace a little, hoping to be rid of them soon. It seemed that I had been noticed though.

"Hey, Sweetheart! You lonely?" one of them yelled and his words were followed my a chorus of laughter.

I glanced at them again, feeling the beginnings of cold fear along my spine. I didn't answer and just kept walking.

"You look lost! You lost, Sugar?"

Determinately, I ignored them and kept walking. How many blocks had the shop clerk said? Out of the corner of my eye I saw the group crossing the street towards me. Six blocks, or maybe seven. How many had I passed?

"Slow down, Girl! You look like you could use some company!"

_Definitely, _I thought, _just not yours! _I sped up some more and tried to remember the few lessons in self defense we had learned at my school in Phoenix. The men were only a few yards behind me and closing the distance.

I saw a turn ahead of me and, hoping that it was the right one, I took it. It wasn't. I had turned into a fenced off alley, a dead end. Before I could get out, the group of drunkards had blocked off the exit.

They closed in, two staying by the side walk. The remaining three quickly had me surrounded and my heartbeat quickened as I frantically tried to watch all of them at once.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty," one of them murmured, and then he laughed.

The rest joined in and then a man with a dark mohawk reached out, grabbing at my waist.

"Don't touch me," I said, knocking his hand away.

One of the other men pushed me from behind and I spun to face him. The first man grabbed me again and without thinking, I swung my bag at him and broke out of the tight circle the three had made. Unfortunately, I was running in the wrong direction.

I turned back around to see that mohawk-man was coming towards me, swaying ever so slightly as he walked, the other two backing off to where their friends stood. My whole body tingling with nervous energy, I stayed there, my back pressed against the chain link fence. The man continued forward until he was close enough that I could smell the alcohol on his breath.

I put a hand on his sternum and pushed a little. "Leave. Me. Alone."

He smiled nastily and grabbed my jaw. "Come 'ere, Sweetheart," he said.

I curled the tips of my fingers over into the hollow of his throat, putting pressure on his windpipe. He dropped his arms and stumbled back. I gave him a hard kick between the legs for good measure as he stood there sputtering, and then ran out as fast as I could, twisting to avoid the rest of the group.

I ran, my feet pounding against the hard concrete, not even caring which direction I was running as long as it was away from the men in the alley. My heart was pounding with adrenaline and I was breathing heavily, unable to calm myself. I was tired but I knew I couldn't stop running. Behind me I heard angry male voices and then heavy footsteps.

Moments later, their voices were drowned out my the sound of a roaring car engine rapidly coming up behind them. I glanced to the side just in time to see Edward's silver Volvo screech to a halt in the middle of the road.

"Bella, get in!" Edward said, his voice tight with fear and panic, his eyes so bright they were almost glowing,

Without a second thought, I dove into the safety the car offered, and Edward sped away almost before I had gotten my door closed. I sat in the seat, shaking with fear and adrenaline, refusing to look back to see if my attackers were still there.

Edward slipped out of his coat, not taking his eyes of the road, and draped it over my shoulders. "Here, Bella," he said. "This might help. Food is the best thing for the shock but I don't have anything. You'll have to wait for us to get to the restaurant."

I wasn't sure what restaurant he was referring to so I just pulled the jacket more tightly about myself and shivered, trying to calm my racing heart. I had been moving so fast when I had been attacked that I hadn't been thinking about it but now that the fight was over, the shock had caught up with me and overwhelmed me. Tears streamed down my cheeks but I was slowly beginning to feel better. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I saw the men following you and I thought you might need my help."

"No," I said, "I mean what you doing in Port Angeles. You weren't in school today."

"I... Alice... You were going down and I... had a feeling you might need help."

"You followed me?"

"I... Well, you could say that."

I hunched against the seat back and wrapped my arms about myself. "Edward, if you didn't just save my life I'd say that that was really creepy. As it is, it was only mildly creepy. But what do you mean you 'had a feeling'?"

After a moment, he said, "Look, this isn't the best time."

"I'm pretty sure I would have been fine without you."

"I should have been there sooner. You don't know what they thinking!"

"I can guess."

"Can we talk about something else."

"What do you want me to say?" I asked.

"Anything. I just need to calm down.

I started talking, just rambling on about anything I could think of that didn't involve the drunk men. I talked about school, both here and in Arizona, my friends, new music, the weather, as much to distract myself as to calm him and I was sure my the time he stopped in front of a medium sized building that he was convinced that I had no life.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"La Bella Italia," he said sounding confused. "Isn't this where you're meeting your friends."

"Yeah, but how did you know?"

He winced. "I'll explain once we're inside."

As we were approaching the glass front doors, Angela and Jess walked out, stopping as they noticed Edward and I.

"Bella!" Angela said. "We were worried that something had happened to you!"

"No, I'm fine," I told her, not wanting to mention the men who had attacked me.

"We ran into each other and got talking," Edward explained gently, but he still sounded upset about something.

"Yeah... Anyway, Bella, we waited, but we were really hungry so we already ate," Jessica apologized. "I hope you don't mind."

"No-" I began, but Edward cut me off.

"If it's alright with you ladies, I'd like to take Bella to dinner. I figure I owed it to her since it's my fault she missed eating with you. I'll take her home."

"Oh," said Jessica with a small smile. "Then I'll see you tomorrow." She winked at me and began walking off towards her car.

"Shouldn't we -" Angela asked.

But Jessica took her arm firmly and said, "No, we should go."

Once they had pulled away, Edward opened the door and gestured for me to go through."Shall we?"

we were quickly seated and Edward ordered sodas for the two of us.

"The sugar will help with the shock," he explained.

We sat in silence until the meal arrived and I realized that I finished my drink. I must have been thirstier than I realized. Edward pushed his drink towards my, drawing my attention to him once more.

"So," I said, taking a bite of my lasagna, "I've eaten. Pay up."

He let out his breath. "You had me worried for a while. You weren't saying anything."

"Yeah, well, I'm talking now. You have some stuff to tell me."

"Alright," he replied. "But I have questions for you as well."

"That sounds fair."

"Fine. Ask away."

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "This is going to sound really abrupt, but don't laugh."

"I promise I won't laugh."

It had been nagging at me since the night before and the feeling had gotten worse since he showed up here. I figured this was as good a time as any and he finally seemed willing to talk. "Are you a vampire?"

"More or less. We're not exactly Nosferatu, but it's probably the most appropriate title. Really, I'm surprised you figured it out. I had thought I was concealing it better."

"You don't exactly fit in – not to mention the whole stopping the car with your bare hands wasn't very human. But... Seriously? You're a vampire?"

"Yes."

I rubbed my forehead. "This is just so... weird. You'll forgive me if it takes a little time for me to accustom myself to the idea of vampires in my school."

"It's worse," he said with a small smile. "You're eating dinner with one."

"Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Okay, next question. How did you know where I was? That doesn't sound like classic vampire powers. I know you said you weren't a 'classic vampire', but still..." I trailed off.

"You sound like you have a theory."

"Kind of. You said in the car, that I didn't know what they were thinking and it sounds to me like... you do."

"You're right again. You're making it sound like it's a wonder that we've stayed in hiding so long."

"So you're a mind reading vampire?"

"More or less."

"How does that work?"

"I hear the thoughts – not just words butter images and to an extent, feelings – of everyone within a certain distance from me. That distance is greater with people I know better."

"So you can hear what everyone in this room is thinking?"

"Everyone's." He paused. "Except for yours?"

"You can't hear what I'm thinking? Why not me?"

"I don't know," he said, frustration seeping into his voice. "I know that the man at the table in the corner is not enjoying his mushroom ravioli, that the woman with him is concerned about how to break the news that she wants to end their relationship, and that the man three tables down from his is waiting for his brother who has just been released from prison. But from you, I hear nothing. You're as silent as a corpse."

"Ick!"

"Sorry!" he said quickly, holding up a hand. "That was a bad comparison."

"So am I the only person whose thoughts you can't hear?"

"Yes."

"But why?"

"As I said, I don't know. It was what first drew me to you though. I was so curious, I couldn't stay away even though..." He didn't finish the sentence.

"Even though..." I prompted.

"Nothing." He shook his head, clearly not wanting to talk about it.

"Okay, so vampires can read minds?"

"No. You see, one in three people has a power of sorts. Only about one percent of those people have their powers manifest while they are still human. No one is sure what causes it, Carlisle believes it is the control that is forced upon us after the change, Kate – a friend of ours from Alaska – believes that it is the stress of the change itself, but after the change, powers begin to manifest in those who have the potential."

"Are you the only one in your family with, um, powers?"

"No. Alice and Jasper also have powers."

"But the rest are normal – or at least as normal as a vampire can be?"

"I wouldn't say that. They may not have powers aside from those that every immortal has, but they are all quite distinctive. Carlisle especially is extraordinary for a different reason."

That last made me curious but I decided it could wait. I had other questions. "So, what can Alice and Jasper do?"

"Alice can see the future – visions of what will happen based on the current decisions of the people involved – and Jasper can sense and control the emotions of those around him."

I shook my head. "This is just so... unbelievable – so strange." I took a deep breath, trying to focus. "Okay. So what are the powers that all of you have? What changes when you become a vampire – or immortal, or whatever you are?"

"Vampire works. Mainly the difference is strength and endurance. We can run very fast for an almost infinite amount of time. During the Change, our muscles are overdeveloped, but they become denser, so although we do not appear very different, we are much stronger. It also means that we are not very buoyant, but we usually make up for that with strength in our strokes."

"It's probably also easier 'cause you don't have to breathe," I put in. I felt stupid after since I knew I was pointing out the obvious but his reply was not what I expected.

"We do have to breathe, actually, but only very occasionally. We breathe most of the time anyway though because people get upset when we don't."

I smiled. "So what else?"

"Our skin becomes somewhat denser as well, which means it becomes much harder to penetrate though it's not indestructible. A bullet at point blank range will still pierce it."

"How come you can come out during the day? I thought vampires were supposed to be, you know, creatures of the night and all that."

"In general, we are more given to the night than to the day, but we can come out during the day if we want to."

"Aren't you burned by the sun?"

"Why do you think we live in Forks? But the sun doesn't kill us instantly. It takes time – hours, even days – but near the end we are so weak that we often die anyway even if we get out of the sunlight because we are to weak to find sustenance."

"So you can go out in the sun but only for short periods of time? Why don't you come to school on sunny days, then? You would only be in the sunlight for seconds at a time."

"The sun doesn't kill us instantly but it still has visible effects."

"What do you mean?" I asked. I hated how I kept having to press him to elaborate.

"I'll show you some time."

_Or you could just tell me, _I thought, but I was glad that I was at least getting that. "What about fangs?" I asked him.

"We have them though they're not in the traditional places. All the teeth become sharper and the last two molars on either side of the mouth are disappear to make way for a significantly larger jaw muscle to give strength to our bite."

"I definitely wouldn't want to be your dinner," I said. My tone had been joking but he winced. "Sorry. Okay, do your kind of vampires not have red eyes, then?"

"Yes, most do. My family is quite different from most in that we restrict ourselves to animal blood. The immortals who drink human blood have red eyes."

"What about crosses?"

"Carlisle's catholic. That's a myth," he told me.

"Garlic?"

"Another myth."

"Silver?"

"Myth."

"Wow," I muttered. "You guys really aren't very much like Dracula."

He sobered. "Only in the most significant way."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We crave blood and death. Because of what we are, it naturally follows us. No matter how hard we fight it, death is part of what we are: monsters." He looked at his hands which clenched into tight fists.

I shook my head and said firmly, "No. You're not monsters." Definitely, he could be creepy at times, but he wasn't evil.

"You don't understand," he muttered.

"So tell me!"

"Blood is a drug to us. We cannot put it out of our minds. Our thirst is never sated. The calls to us – and yours calls to me more than most. Every second I am with you is a struggle to control to the bloodlust. Every second that you survive is a victory, but I do not think I will be able to stop myself forever, and what would happen if my control could slip..." he didn't finish the sentence but I could see in his face that it was not an idea that appealed to him.

"It's not a big deal Edward. It's just a little blood."

"No – don't you see? I wouldn't be able to stop! And even if I could, the venom would change you into one of us. Either way, you couldn't continue with your life."

"Edward, you won't hurt me," I said, with more confidence than I felt.

"How do you know?"

I snapped my fingers beneath his nose. "Hey! Snap out of it. You haven't killed me yet and you're not going to."

He didn't answer. Eventually he said, "It's getting late. We should go – unless you want dessert?"

I sighed. "No, I'm fine."

We packed up and left. Edward covered the bill though I offered to pay my share. He didn't say anything while we got into his car and he drove off and I was worried that he was more upset than I'd thought but eventually he spoke.

"Do you have any more questions?"

"Yes," I replied, "but they can wait. You've answered all the important ones."

"**Good," he said, with a small, lopsided smile. "Now it's my turn."**


	8. Questions

I woke up the next morning from a dream in which Edward played an embarrassingly important role. I regretted waking up and once I had, I could remember little of the dream save Edward and and the pleasure.

The memory of the dream reminded me of the night before. At first I thought that that had been part of the dream but slowly it resolved into honest memory. I winced as I remembered the ignored speed limit signs on the ride home, while Edward asked me questions. But more memorable were the questions I had asked him – or more specifically, the answers that he had given me.

Vampire. The word felt strange on my lips. It was hard – almost impossible – to believe that I had been right, that Edward was, in fact a vampire – or an immortal, as he referred to himself. It went against everything I had been taught as a child and yet... it made sense. Sort of. Maybe I could weasel some more answers from him at lunch. Okay, so maybe I just wanted to see him again, but... I could pretend, couldn't I?

Though I didn't really want to get out of bed, the thought of Edward at school and finally willing to talk to me, was tempting enough to draw me out of the warm covers. It was even colder outside than it was in the house, mainly because of a thick fog that had settled over the area but I tried to convince myself that it was a good thing because it meant that Edward would have no excuse to stay away today. Not that that would make a difference if he didn't want to come.

Jessica was waiting anxiously for me to arrive in trig. She was grinning impishly and bouncing up and down with excitement. "So how was dinner last night? Did anything happen?"

"Sure. We talked. I ate lasagna." As much as I was glad that Edward had finally opened up, I couldn't share her excitement on this subject. Even if I had wanted to, I couldn;t tell her what actually happened.

She rolled her eyes. "No! I mean did anything, you know, interesting happen?"

"Not really. We exchanged phone numbers and that was pretty much it."

"He finds you, lost, in the middle of town, rescues you, takes you out to dinner at a romantic restaurant... and he doesn't do anything? What kind of guy is he?"

I was saved from having to answer that be the start of class but she picked up the subject as soon as it was over. She was still quizzing me about it when we got to the lunch room and I spotted Edward waiting in line for his food.

She noticed the direction of my gaze, and grinning impishly, gave me a hearty shove towards him. I looked back at her helplessly but Edward had already seen me. I recovered what was left of dignity and walked over to him.

He smiled as I approached. "Good morning, Bella," he said. "Did you sleep well?"

"Relatively," I answered, but my blush told him more than I had wanted him to know.

"Are you hungry," he asked, kindly changing the subject.

"Yeah. I was a little behind schedule this morning so I didn't get much of a breakfast. I should probably get in line -"

"What would you like?"

I frowned. "I'm capable of getting my own lunch, you know."

"I'm sure you are, but I'm not going to eat it and it hardly makes sense for you to wait when this food is going in the garbage otherwise."

I had to admit that he had a point. "Get the pizza. I'll find a table."

Only minutes later, Edward and I were seated with a tray of food between the two of us.

"So why do you even bother to buy the food?" I asked.

He shrugged. "People would notice if we didn't it's hard enough making people believe we're eating it – Alice even got a speech on eating disorders from one of the teachers at a previous school. She actually had to eat some for the next few weeks because the teachers were watching her so carefully – as did we, for that matter. It wasn't much fun. Fortunately we moved shortly after that so we didn't have to suffer it for long."

I frowned in confusion. "So do you not like food – like, human food?"

"We can't digest it so we have no interest in eating it."

"But you can eat it."

"You can eat grass but would you want to?" He sighed. "Your tastes change when you become a vampire, among other things."

"Oh. So," I said after a moment, "What does, um, blood taste like?"

"It's... It's like nothing I've ever felt and ever will feel. It's warm and rich and sweet – it's the most delicious taste and it is different for everyone but it pulls at each and every one of us with unending strength. The need is something that never goes away." He closed his eyes as he spoke and I could hear the remembered ecstasy in his voice. "Animal blood is more bitter, though."

"Blegh." I couldn't help it. It was my fault - I shouldn't have asked – but discussing it brought the scent of it to the forefront of my memory and my stomach reacted violently.

"There's no accounting for taste," he told me evenly.

I took a swallow of pop to calm my seething stomach. "So..." I said after a moment, "What happened to the whole 'I'm so dangerous and you should stay away from me because I'm a monster' speech?"

He looked at me and I realized that he wasn't nearly as relaxed as he'd let on. "It's easier in daylight, and it helps that there are so many people around. Not to mention I was quite riled up last night because of those... men." He said the word as though it wasn't the one he would have liked to have used.

"So why are you still worried?"

He was silent for a moment and then he said, "Bella, do remember what happened the first time we met?"

I nodded. "You went all stiff and acted like you thought I was utterly revolting. Later you said it was because you'd gotten a headache, but I'm guessing that wasn't true."

"The first time I caught your scent, it took less than a second for it to consume my mind. Within three, I was planning how to kill you. I could think of nothing but my teeth in your neck and your warm, sweet blood in my throat."

My stomach heaved but I hid it as best I could. Edward had risked much in saying what he had and I didn't want to lessen it for him. "I... see."

"I'm sorry, Bella," he said, his voice losing some of it's intensity. "I'm frightening you, aren't I?"

"No," I lied. I had never been a good liar so I was fairly sure he didn't believe me.

We sat in silence until the room was all but empty and we were forced to hurry to our class. We didn't speak in class either, especially since we were watching a film to begin our newest unit. I was too aware of Edward's closeness in the dim room to really pay attention to the film, and again and again, I head Edward's voice in my head, _nothing but my teeth in your neck and your blood in my throat..._ I was understandably cowed. But worst was the thought that I couldn't quite silence, no matter how hard I tried, that wondered if I might even have enjoyed it.

It was stupid – sick, even – but the thought kept coming back until I was blushing so much that I was sure Edward could feel the heat from where he sat. _Down, girl, _I thought. _Focus. _It didn't help.

The hour was very long.

I left very hurriedly at the end of it that I managed to fall to my knees, drop my books and get a sizable bruise on my shin. I didn't linger though. Nothing could keep me in that room with Edward a second longer than was necessary. Heck, it was embarrassing enough to admit what I was thinking, even to myself. I didn't want him knowing if I could possibly avoid it.

I was relieved – no, I was not disappointed, I wasn't – that Edward had no place in my dreams whatsoever that night. But when my car wouldn't start that morning, for some reason or another, he was the first person I thought of to get me to school.

He seemed surprised but otherwise happy to pick me up. Once he hung up, I realized that he would almost certainly drive at three times what he legally should, especially since we were running late. Even so, I couldn't make myself feel upset about that when I knew that I would still get him entirely to myself for a full car ride.

I was rather surprised when he arrived at my house in less than ten minutes and I knew that it didn't bode well for the trip to school. He was out of the car in an instant and he helped me into the car, holding the door for me.

"Do you know what was wrong with your car?" he asked as we pulled away from the curb

"No. I didn't really get much of a chance to check it out."

"If you like, I can take a look at it."

"No, that's okay," I assured him. "I don't think it's a major problem bur if push comes to shove, I know a good mechanic."

"Oh."

There was silence for a few minutes and then I asked suddenly, "Edward, could I ask another vampire question?"

"Certainly, so long as I can ask you a human question."

I shrugged. I had no idea why he was interested but I didn't mind. "Why are you so cold? I mean, I know you wouldn't be warm like a mammal, but you're actually cold. Like ice."

"Immortals have no blood. Instead, the same venom that incapacitates our victims runs through out veins. Since the venom maintains a temperature in the low twenties, it generally means that we feel unnaturally cold to human senses."

"I guess that makes sense," I said after a moment.

"My turn. Why did you call me?"

I was somewhat taken aback by the question, mainly because I didn't know the answer myself. He was just the first person I thought of when I realized I needed a ride. Okay, so he was the first person I thought of regardless of what was going on in my head but I was hardly going to tell him that. "I don't know," I eventually answered, truthfully. I hoped he was satisfied with that because it was all I could give him.

As the drive continued our conversation strayed to other topics – books, biology, and eventually, music. I hadn't realized how much music was a part of Edward's life – though I suppose I should have given how he was constantly tapping out rhythms – but looking through the CDs he kept in his car, there was a range of everything from classical, to pop, to western, from all different time periods.

I flipped through them in fascination and for each album, he had some thing to say, some story to tell. I had barely gotten three quarters of the way through when we arrived at the school.

The day was relatively normal. Jessica told me how excited she was to be going to the dance with Mike, and it was too bad that I couldn't come, but she had the perfect necklace to go with her dress. Mike himself was much more fun to talk to now that he had turned his romantic attentions on someone else and we had an interesting discussion regarding whether or not Shakespeare's plays were misogynistic. Angela met us in the hallway and joined in but eventually the conversation migrated to teenage vampire romance novels. I usually didn't have much patients for them but now that I was an insider on the actual facts, the topic seemed much more interesting.

Overall, it was a good day. Despite that, it was nowhere near as interesting as my discussion with Edward as he drove me home.

"So, Edward," I asked, "What do you do all day, besides drive me around and do school? Jess said that your family keeps to itself, and I can understand why you wouldn't want to be too much in the public eye... but what do you do?"

He smiled. "That is a very good question. Unfortunately, you can't live forever without getting very bored. I knew some of our kind who just got tired of existing and watching everyone they knew die, so they just went out to watch the sunrise... and never came back."

"You didn't answer my question," I told him, somewhat unnerved.

He sighed. "My life really isn't all that interesting. I read, I play piano, I talk with my family, I hunt."

"So I guess your life didn't change much when you became a vampire, then, huh?"

He looked away and it was quite clear he didn't want to talk about it. I wondered what had happened that he was so upset about. I knew him well enough to guess what he was thinking, though. _Death is part of what we are: monsters..._

"You're wrong, you know," I told him.

"What do you mean?"

"You're not a monster."

"I didn't say I was."

"No. But you were thinking it."

He didn't answer, he just looked away.

"You're wrong, though. You're no more a monster than a bear or a wolf. Sure, you could kill people, but you chose not to. You chose a lifestyle that meant not killing people. That's not evil."

"You don't understand!"

"Yes, I think I do! You think you're a murderer because you thirst for blood, but murderers don't save people from car accidents and stop them from being raped. You aren't a murderer."

"You don't understand," he said again, but there was more despair in his voice than defiance.

I wanted to comfort him, to make him understand that he was not the ruthless killer he thought he was, and more than anything, I wanted him to realize how much I loved him.

That was a hard admission to make. After all, I'd only met him – what, two weeks ago? Three? But that was the only word that applied. I tried the words out on my tongue. "I love you," I murmured, too quietly – I thought – for him to hear.

"What?"

His skills could be so inconvenient. I bit my lip. I never thought I'd be saying this – and to Edward Cullen of all people! "I think I love you," I told him, my voice still quiet.

"Bella..." He wasn't angry or even surprised. Instead he sounded almost... sad. Had I done something wrong? "You can't! Don't you understand what that will do to you?"

I frowned. "What's the problem, Edward?" I asked. I couldn't understand why he was so upset. "I'm not saying we have to go out, or anything like that, I just thought you should know."

He closed his eyes and said, "You have no idea what a temptation that is." He took a shuddering breath. "But, for your own sake, you can't. I'm a -"

"Don't say it!" I cut him off. "I know what you can do and I love you anyway."

"You don't understand!"

"You keep saying that! So tell me? Explain it to me? 'Cause until you do, I won't be convinced. I love you."

"Bella..."

"If you can tell me honestly that you don't feel the same way, then I'll leave it alone, and I won't bring it up again, but if you feel what I feel, then it's stupid to deny both of us the satisfaction."

He opened his eyes and I let out a sigh of relief. It was very unnerving when your driver had his eyes closed. Staring straight ahead of him, Edward said, "I don't love you."

"That's a lie! I'm tired of it! No more lies – promise!"

His shoulders slumped. "No more lies. I promise I will never lie to you."

"So, tell me the truth."

"Yes, I love you. I've loved you since we first spoke – actually spoke. When I wasn't trying not to kill you."

I let out my breath. I was definitely out of my depth. But at least I wasn't alone. Slowly I reached out and took Edward's ice cold hand in mine.

"When can I meet the rest of your family?" I asked.

"Not yet."

"Can you give me a rough estimate?"

"I don't know. I don't want... I don't want to trap you."

"What do you mean?"

"I want to make sure that you have a way out."

"Edward, you're not a house. What are you talking about?"

His jaw tightened. "Don't you understand that there is a reason we hide from the humans? They could kill us in a night if they ever knew we existed. I don't want you to have to worry about the consequences of being with me."

I swallowed as I realized what he meant. "Well, I think it's a little late for that."

"I know – and I'm sorry. But it can only get worse and I don't want you to be trapped."

"Edward, has it occurred to you that things might get better? That I'm not being trapped, I'm just choosing to be with you? I know the risks, and I've chosen."

He stopped the car. We had arrived at my house. "Bella, don't feel that you need to commit to anything right now. Sleep on it, take some time to think. I won't rush you into any decisions." He kissed me quickly on the cheek and then he was gone.

That night I dreamed that I was being hunted down by thousands of vampires. Their skin was gray, their fangs were sharp, and their eyes were a bright, glowing red, but each of them wore Edward Cullen's face.

My sheets were damp with sweat when I woke and I shuddered as I remembered the dream. I told myself that that was just the dream, that it wasn't really Edward. But I couldn't get his hungry, gray face out of my mind.

When I got downstairs, Charlie was sitting at the table with his coffee in one hand and a newspaper in the other. As I sat across from him, I noticed the headline:

**Local campers dead or missing**

"What's all that about?" I asked, indicating the paper. Forks didn't seem like a town where they would have to worry about this kind of thing too often.

"Some campers disappeared a little over a week ago a few miles out of Forks. Searchers found a body yesterday. I tell you, Bells, the world is a savage place." He finished the rest of his coffee in one long gulp and then went to the couch and turned on the TV.

I glanced back at the paper and realized I'd lost my appetite. Instead of eating, I grabbed a book and curled up against the window in the living room.

I'd hardly read two pages when Charlie spoke up. "Look, Bells, don't coop yourself up in here just cause I'm being boring. It's nice outside. Have some fun."

"You're kicking me out?" I asked with a small grin.

"Well, you're welcome to stay if you want to," he said quickly. "I'm just saying you're free to... I dunno, go for a walk, visit some friends or something."

"Thanks." I went back to my book but after a while I decided that reading wasn't what I wanted to do right then so I grabbed a light jacket – it was sunny but in Forks, it was always good to be prepared for anything – and headed out the door.

My heart nearly stopped when I saw Edward sitting on my porch steps. "What are you doing here?" I hissed.

He stood. "Walk with me."

I rolled my eyes but followed him. "Why are you always so cryptic?"

He snaked an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. "You said you loved me even though I was dead – or undead at least. Why does it matter to you that I'm cryptic."

"Just because I love you doesn't mean that it's not irritating anyway."

"It's... I just want to show you something."

"What?"

"Alice says the clouds will clear away in a little over an hour."

"And..." I prompted, but he just shrugged. "Fine. Don't tell me."

"I'm sure you can figure it out."

He had parked his car a few blocks away from my house. I got in but after a few minutes, it became clear that we weren't going anywhere I knew. "So, um, where are we going?"

"There's a nice spot a ways out of town that I'd like to show you."

"Is there a specific reason for that/"

"Yes."

I waited for him to elaborate but he didn't say anything more. I shrugged and watched the road. After a while, we turned off the highway onto a gravel road which we followed until it came to a small circle. There, Edward stopped and I got out and looked around.

There were three paths leading off into the forest. One, the most distinct lead off to my right while the other two were very faint and led off a little to my right. Edward didn't walk to any of them.

"Please tell me you're taking a path," I said to him.

"We can if you like but we'd have to leave it eventually."

I sighed. "Lead on."

The trail was relatively straight so I only slipped a few times and Edward was always close enough to keep me from falling. I barely noticed when the forest took on a golden light as the clouds dissipated. My feet were too sore for me to really focus on anything else, even the treacherous forest floor.

"Well," I said eventually, "you've gotten me thoroughly lost."

"Don't worry,' he replied. "I know where we are."

"You'd better cause I haven't got a clue." I sighed. "Look my feet hurt -"

"We're almost there."

I almost ran into him when he stopped suddenly in front of a pair of birch trees bent into an arch. Through the trees was a small clearing lit by the bright sunlight. Finally, I realized what it was that Edward wanted to show me.

"You didn't have to do this.'

"I wanted you to see. Before you were 'in too deep'."

"You know it won't make a difference."

He still looked concerned. "I'll warn you, what you'll see isn't what you expect."

"I don't care as long as I don't see you bursting into flames."

**He nodded. Then he slowly unbuttoned the first three buttons of his clean, white shirt and stepped, slowly, into the bright midday sun.**


	9. Ultraviolet

At first, though there were no flames, I thought that Edward was burning. Following his faint veins, his skin was turning black where the sun was hitting it. In less than five seconds, his skin had turned completely black and.

He turned to face me and his eyes shone like jewels out of his dark face.

"Edward... are – are you okay? I mean, does that hurt?"

He shrugged. "Not much. I can bare it."

"It's amazing, It's almost... beautiful, even."

He shook his head and turned away. "You still don't understand, do you? I'm a monster – evil – otherwise nature wouldn't have forced me to hide from the sun."

I rolled my eyes. "Hamsters are nocturnal. Are you saying that makes them monsters?"

"Bella, this is the skin of a killer! No matter how hard you try to deny it you can't change that!"

"Edward, they're only animals!"

"Not all of them," he murmured, almost too quietly for me to hear.

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to keep the uncertainty out of my voice.

It was a long time before he answered. "I'm not as good a person as you think I am." He sighed. "I was born in Smithheld, Virginia in eighteen thirty-eight. My father traveled to Boston when I was five and he never came back. We never found out whether he had survived the trip. My mother insisted that he hadn't, I think because she didn't want to face the alternative.

"When I was fifteen, my mother and I moved to Norfolk, where her father lived a few streets down from the small house she had bought. He was the very successful owner of a clothes manufacturing business and we went to visit him every Saturday. I began to apprentice as a carpenter and my mother found a job as a laundress. Her father often helped us through financial difficulty and altogether we were doing very well for ourselves – at least, there was always food on the table come meal time.

"When I was seventeen, people started getting sick. I remember how much my mother wanted to leave but her father didn't want to abandon his business and he refused to pay for it – we simply couldn't afford the journey. Any time she broached the subject with him, he would dismiss it and tell her that it wouldn't touch us. As it turned out, he was wrong.

"Only a few months later, my mother and I fell ill. She was dead within three days, but I held on longer – long enough, it seems. Carlisle found me shortly after my mother died and after a few, painful days, I opened my eyes to the perfect clarity of immortality.

"My family was gone. I was angry at the world in general – and my grandfather in particular and... and instincts as a newborn are very strong, very difficult to control. I didn't want to control myself.

"I killed my grandfather... and many other people. Not many people noticed at the time because there were so many dead anyway. Eventually though I left but I didn't stop. Carlisle had already moved on. By that time, the bloodlust had receded somewhat, but the anger hadn't. I still killed people, but it was harder because with every life I took, I saw Carlisle's face in my head – not judging, not hateful... but always better. I knew what I was doing was wrong and he was the reminder of everything that I could have been, and wasn't.

"I tried to justify my actions with whom I was killing. I was careful. I tracked down the criminals, rapists, murderers, I never killed the innocents. But the rage was gone. It was just cold murder, because I didn't want to admit that I was wrong. I tried to convince myself that I was completely justified but..." he trailed off and sighed. "I'm immortal, but I'm not god. Who was I to judge people? And I knew, though I did not want to admit it, that I was no better than my victims.

"I tracked down Carlisle, asked to rejoin him and he agreed without hesitation. Not judging, not hateful, just as I had imagined him. By this time, he had found another companion for himself, a woman by the name of Elizabeth White and married her. She welcomed me as though I had been with her family from the start." He looked at me and smiled. "She changed her name to Esme nineteen years ago."

"You're mother," I said, finally making the connection.

He nodded and then looked away again.

"You're not a monster," I told him stubbornly, though I was unnerved and a little sickened by what he had told me.

"How can you say that after what you just heard?"

I swallowed. He had repented. He wasn't a murderer now. He had saved my life. And I loved him, more than I had ever loved another person. "That's not who you are. I love you."

He stepped closer to me and looked me straight in the eye. "Even though I've killed people. Even though I could kill you now."

"Yes. I know you won't hurt me."

"I wish I had your confidence."

I took his hand. "Come on. Let's get out of the sun. It's not good for you."

He didn't object as I pulled him into the shade of on of the trees at the edge of the clearing. As soon as he was out of the sunlight his skin began to return to it's natural pallor.

We sat and I turned over the hand that I held, tracing the faint lines of Edward's palm. "Tell me about the rest of your family. I'm anxious to meet them."

He sighed. "Let's see. Carlisle was first. He was born sometime in the early sixteen hundreds, though even he can't recall exactly when. He was the son of a vicar in england who, as it happened, was a very eager witch and vampire hunter. Of course he never correctly identified either. He raised Carlisle with the same beliefs and when he got too old to continue his work. Carlisle took over for him and was fortunate – or unfortunate – enough to find an actual nest of vampires. As can be expected, one of the vampires set upon Carlisle and had almost drained him by the time Carlisle's companions were able to destroy it. If it had not been so weak with hunger, Carlisle probably would have been dead before they got there.

"He knew that he had to stay out of the sun and that if he was found, he would be killed, so he dragged himself into a cellar and managed to stay unnoticed until the Change was finished. I don't know how he did it – the Change is extremely painful.

"He was well enough grounded in his faith to be sure that he was evil and he even considered killing himself but... it's harder for us than it is for you. Instinct takes over when death is near. He knew he would have to feed eventually though he held off as long as he could. He hadn't even considered feeding off animals until he was passed by a herd of dear and the blood lust overcame him completely.

"He was relieved to have found an alternative to all the killing but none of the other immortal inhabitants of his hometown were so willing to try his lifestyle. He traveled across Europe, studying, preaching, healing. In general he just wanted to redeem himself in the eyes of god."

I frowned. "Is that what you're trying to do with the animals and me? Trying to redeem yourself after all the people you killed?"

"No. What I feel for you has nothing to do with my remorse. Besides, I think it's to late to redeem myself."

"Look, I don't go to church much, but I thought that God was supposed to be forever able to forgive. If you're looking for redemption, I don't think that there's a time limit."

he shook his head. "It was too late as soon as I was changed, even without my evil actions directly afterwards. The almighty can do nothing for the dead."

"The dead, huh? You don't seem all that 'dead' to me."

"No I'm not dead, but I'm hardly alive. Damned, I believe, is the correct term."

"Are you saying Carlisle's damned? Evil? Soulless?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Edward you are a goo person. Now stop moping and tell me more. Your family's been around long enough that you must have some interesting stories."

Edward sighed but he did seem somewhat cheered. "Eventually Carlisle came to Italy where he came across three very interesting people – immortals, like him. They call themselves the Volturi now, but then they were only just beginning to gather a following, I'll tell you more about them some other time.

"Anyway, after spending some time with them, he came to America where he got a medical degree and began practicing. After that, well, you know what happened to me. Esme was a young wife whose husband was drafted only a year after their marriage. He died a few months later and she was left with nothing but an empty house she couldn't keep and a baby that was due in a matter of weeks. When the child was stillborn, she felt that she had nothing left and she tried to kill herself. But the cliff was not high enough. She was still alive when Carlisle found her.

"Rosalie was in Boston, the eldest daughter of a wealthy banking family. She was... attacked by her husband to be and left for dead. Carlisle was almost too late but he managed to save her. She was angry with him afterwards. She felt he had stolen her humanity from her. I suppose he had in a way, but he gave her life. She still has many regrets.

"She found Emmett a few years later, dying of a grizzly attack. She changed him, though it took all her strength not to suck him dry – she's very proud of her record; She's never tasted human blood aside from Emmett's. I still wonder why she did it, though, given that she'd always wished Carlisle had simply left her alone. She's been much happier now that Emmett is with her, fortunately." Almost too low for me to hear, he added, "For us."

"If you're family is so careful – and Carlisle's saved countless lives – than how come the Quileutes don't want you on their land?"

"What do you mean?"

I looked down. "A friend of mine lives down on the reservation. He said something about a treaty and about you. He said it was all superstitious junk but that's how I guessed you were a vampire. I assumed the rest was true too."

Edward sighed. "It is. Your Quileute friend was right. But the problem is that immortals like my family – immortals who do not kill humans – are the exception and not the rule. I know of only one other coven like us and they live in Denali in Alaska. The Quileutes here had had a bad experience with others before us and they warned us that as soon as a human fell victim to us or we crossed onto their land, they would reveal who we were to the Europeans."

" Why did you agree? I've seen what you can do. Why do you care if the humans find out."

"We're not as powerful as you seem to think. You humans could destroy us in a night through sheer force of numbers."

"If you say so. So Alice was the last person you changed then? Or was it Jasper?"

"Neither. Jasper and Alice joined us after they were changed. Jasper was Changed around the same time as Esme, Alice we're not sure about. She doesn't remember her human life at all."

"Were they... animalitarian before joining up with you or did that come after?"

"It came after – for jasper at least. He has a very violent past – worse even than mine, in some respects. Maybe he'll tell you some time. He still has the least control of everyone in our family, but he's getting better and he still has more control than and average vampire."

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, but that's is just such a weird phrase. Average vampire. That's like saying 'average Martian'. I'm just not used to it."

"I hope you don't get used to it. This isn't safe for you."

"Edward stop telling me how dangerous everything is! The way you go on about it it seems like a miracle that the laundry hasn't strangles me yet, or I haven't gotten a paper cut and bled to death! I can take care of myself."

"I know. I just, I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't, Edward. You just need to have faith. Faith... manages."

He was silent and I examined my fingernails. The wind picked up and I heard a choking noise from Edward's direction. I looked up sharply and was shocked to see him bed over, his hands claw-like on his skull.

"Edward?" I asked, scared and confused.

His head jerked back so fast that I didn't see him move. His eyes were almost glowing with the energy that was clear in his entire body. His mouth was open and his lips were pulled back so that I could see all every one of his razor sharp teeth. A hiss escaped his lips and I saw a blue black liquid dripping from his most prominent teeth.

"Edward?" I asked. Nervously I put a hand on his shoulder.

He looked at me and something seemed to change in his eyes. He was at the other side of the clearing in an instant, his skin still darkening when he stopped.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't be. This isn't your fault. It's just so hard to keep control of myself when I'm around you. And if I let that control slip, even for a moment..." He didn't finish but I knew what he meant. My survival was dependent on his ability to stop himself from killing me.

Slowly, I stood up and walked over to where he stood. I took his hand and leaned against him. He stiffened but didn't object.

"I'm scared," I whispered.

He didn't react and for a moment I thought he hadn't heard me. Then he spoke: "You can still back out. I won't hold you to anything. I can leave if you want." He spoke without emotion in a dull voice. I was sure he wasn't lying. But I still knew he didn't want me to leave.

"No." I shook my head. "I don't want out. I love you."

"I'm a vampire, Bella!"

"I know."

"Why do you still love me, then?"

"I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to this, Edward. I know what I'm doing."

"Bella," he trailed off, then shook his head and made his way, much more slowly than he had moved a second ago, towards me. I looked much better, the anger and anguish gone from his features. I would have felt better except that I noticed, after a moment, that he wasn't breathing. Without noticing I was doing it, I held my breath, too.

"I'm sorry," he said after a moment. I wasn't sure if he was apologizing for the danger he had put me in, for arguing with me, or for existing in general, but I didn't care regardless.

A cloud passed in front of the sun and I shivered in the sudden cold.

"I should get you home. You must be tired."

"I'm fine."

Edward shrugged. "I should take you home anyway. It's getting late."

"Alright." I started walking towards the faint forest trail.

"Wait," Edward said, catching my arm. "I'd like to show you something."

"What?"

In reply he swung me onto his back. "Hold on tight," he said, and then he was off.

It wasn't so much like wind in my air as gravity pulling me backward. The sound of the air rushing past us was almost deafening.

But that was nothing compared to what I saw. The entire forest was a green and brown blur except for the trees directly in front of me which came at me too fast for me to even flinch. I clung to Edward like some kind of parasite, terrified to watch but unable to close my eyes.

I was sure my heart would pound it's way out of my chest before we reached our destination but by some miracle, it was still there when I saw my truck through distant trees.

Edward slowed and in seconds he was running at a reasonable speed and then he was walking. And he wasn't even out of breath – not that he would be. Infact, he didn't seem tired at all.

As soon as Edward stopped moving, I let go and let myself slide off his back. I didn't want to be moving at all for a long time. At the very least, I needed a minute or two to collect myself.

"Are you trying to kill me?" I finally gasped.

Edward frowned in confusion. "No. You were quite safe, I assure you. What are you afraid of."

I put a hand to my chest as though I could slow my pounding heart from the outside. "Have you ever heard of the term 'scared to death'? That was terrifying. Besides, you could have hit something."

Edward shook his head. "We wouldn't have hit anything. I can see better than humans can and I've had a lot of practice. I'm sorry for scaring you though. I thought you would enjoy it."

"Edward, some of us aren't invulnerable. That means that we get scared more easily than you vamps do."

"I know, I just... wasn't thinking I guess. I really didn't mean to frighten you. I'm sorry. How do you feel now?"

"Better," I said. "Definitely. I just need a minute."

He waited patiently while I sat and just breathed deeply, trying to calm myself. "Okay," I said finally, "help me up."

He extended his hand and pulled me steadily to my feet.

I looked at him disgustedly. "Aren't you even tired at all?"

"Some. It just doesn't show in us the same way it does in you. Not to mention it takes much more to tire us out."

I shrugged. He helped me into the truck and he began to drive off. I was so tired from the hike that I nearly fell asleep in his car. I didn't want to so instead I just stared out the window and let my mind wander. I must have fallen asleep in the end though because the drive seemed to me to take less than ten minutes and we had been a full half hour reaching the drop off point when we left that morning.

I got out of the car and Edward came to stand beside me.

"I had fun today," I said softly.

"I'm glad. I want you to be happy – whatever it takes."

I hoped he wasn't going to tell me – again – how utterly dangerous and life threatening all this was. It wasn't that his warning weren't valid, it was just that I had heard them all before and I had chosen him anyway. I wasn't going change my mind.

Instead, he did something quite unexpected. Slowly and carefully, he leaned towards me and pressed his cold lips to mine. After a moment I relaxed against him and enjoyed the kiss.

It felt so right – not invasive or uncomfortable as I had imagined it. It just fit.

**The kiss lasted a long time. **


	10. The Cullens

When I got home Charlie was pulling a hungry man dinner out of the microwave. He was in uniform which was odd. I hadn't thought he was going in to work today.

"Bella!" he said through a mouthful of food. I swallowed quickly and set down the container. "I didn't know when you'd be back so I thought I'd a bite to eat before I left."

"Left? Where are you going?"

He pursed his lips. "Another dead body. I don't know when I'll be back – you should make yourself something to eat."

"Okay," I said. "Be careful. I suppose I can't really say have fun, can I?"

He smiled grimly. "No not really. I just hope we can figure out what's going on. I'm tired of the dead bodies."

"Yeah. I guess I'll see you later."

He nodded. "See you, Bell," he said before turning towards the door.

"Wait, Dad!"

"What?" he asked, turning back to face me.

"I'm going to go see the Cullens tomorrow if that's okay with you."

He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it with a snap. After a moment he sighed. "I guess you're an adult now – or almost. Do whatever you want, but just be responsible."

"Thanks," I said. "Um... good luck."

He sighed again. "Thanks."

After he had left, I made myself a sandwich and went to bed.

The next morning, I slept in until almost noon and was surprised to find Charlie was gone, leaving a note that said he was fishing with Billy. I grabbed some cereal and sat at the table to eat. As I did, I saw Edward perched on the arm of the couch.

I choked on my mouthful of cereal and then spent a moment trying to regain my breath.

"What are you doing here?" I managed finally.

"I'm here to take you to my house."

"Don't you, you know, knock?"

"I did," he said, "but I think you were still asleep."

"But how did you get in if I didn't invite you?"

"That is one of the stories that is not actually true."

"Oh," I said, and then after a moment, "So do you want to go now, or can I eat first?"

"Whatever you like. I wouldn't want to call you away from your meal but we could fix something for you once you've arrived if you like."

"No, I'll eat here. I don't want to bother your family any more than necessary."

"Oh, I can assure you, you won't be a bother."

"Are you sure," I asked. "What if... I mean... what if they don't like me."

"I'd be more concerned about the fact that they're all blood thirsty vampires, if I were you."

"Edward!"

He chuckled. "I'm sure they'll like you fine."

I quickly finished my cereal and then put on my rain coat. "I'm ready to go, I think."

He walked me to the car and held the door for me. I wasn't sure I would ever get used to the courtesy he always used on me.

We drove in comfortable silence. I had never been a big talker, and neither was Edward, really. We were both content to just be with each other.

Placing one of my hands on his, I looked out the window and watched the road. I was surprised at the winding route Edward took. I was even more surprised when the street turned into a a gravel road and began to wind through the forest. I hadn't realized he lived this far away.

"I'm surprised you don't live closer to the hospital." I said after a while. "It's got to be a long commute for Carlisle."

"He manages. It's easier this way, not having to hide."

"This isn't hiding?"

"You know what I mean. Here, we aren't forced to keep up the pretense."

"Oh. So... Does your family know, you know, that I know about vampires?"

"Yes. We've been together to long to really be able to keep secrets from each other. Besides, Alice saw you figure it out before you did."

"Oh."

We were silent for a moment and then, "Are you nervous?" Edward asked.

"A little," I admitted.

"Don't be," he said, give my hand a squeeze. "I'll keep you safe."

I squeezed his hand in return and then went back to looking out the window. A moment later, I saw a shape through the trees that slowly resolved itself into a large white house.

"Wow," I murmured. "You live there?"

"Yes," he said simply.

As we got closer, I took a better look at the house. It was wide and old fashioned looking with coloured trim and wide windows covering the front wall. The was a gravel drive in front and then steps leading up to double doors at the entrance.

Edward parked in front of the house and then let me inside. I looked around at the wide, warm room in surprise.

It was tasteful and elegant, yet it still seemed lived in – something I didn't expect in a house belonging to the undead. There was a sectional against the far wall, facing the wide-screen television to my right. There was a love seat beside that and a glass coffee table in the middle of the room.

There were gently spiraling wooden stairs at one corner of the room and past them I could see what looked like the Cullen's kitchen. There was still no sign of the Cullens, however.

"Where is everyone?" I whispered to Edward.

He chuckled. "They'll be here in a moment."

Precisely on cue, I heard footsteps on the stairs and Carlisle appeared, followed by an tall, unfamiliar woman with caramel hair that fell to her shoulders. I guessed this must be Esme. Edward's adopted mother.

"Bella!" Carlisle said warmly, "It's good to see you again."

When Esme spoke, her voice was high and sweet and feminine. "You must be Bella! It's so good to finally meet you – Edward's told us so much about you!"

"It's nice to meet you, too," I managed, trying not to feel too overwhelmed.

The front door opened behind me and I turned to see Edward's short, dark haired sister walking in, trailed by Jasper. She was holding a bouquet of tulips in one hand and wore a pixie-ish grin on her pale face.

"Ah, Bella, this is Alice."

Before anyone could say anything else, Alice had wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug. In fact, I could hardly breathe.

"Alice, Bella is very important to me. If you break her, I'll be very upset." His tone was joking but there was an almost dangerous edge underneath it.

Alice sprung back and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry," she said. "I'm not used to dealing with humans. It's really good to meet you, though. Here, these are for you." She extended the flowers to me and I took them, still slightly stunned.

"Um, hi," I managed finally, taking a step closer to Edward. He wrapped his arm more tightly around me.

"This is Jasper."

The blonde boy behind Alice smiled politely but kept his distance. "Pleasure," he murmured, nodding slightly.

"Jasper has more difficulty with our restrictions than the rest of us," Edward told me quietly. "He's just being safe."

"Oh. It's nice to meet you," I said.

"So this is the girl, huh?" asked a deep voice from behind me.

I turned to see that the last two members of Edward's family had joined us. Emmet was leaning casually against the wall with Rosalie standing stiffly beside him.

"Hi, I'm Bella." I extended my hand and he shook it violently.

"Emmett." He said back against the wall and said, "So Eddie hasn't killed you yet. That's a good sign. Things are working out, huh?"

"Yeah..." I told him uncertainly.

Edward rolled his eyes. "Stop trying to scare her."

Emmett laughed. "Naw, she's not scared."

I didn't know what to say to that so I ignore it. I turned to the last person there, Rosalie. "Hi," I said.

She glanced at me with cold amber eyes and then looked away dismissively.

I frowned. I had been prepared for disapproval of some sort but that was just rude.

"Well," Edward muttered after a moment. "I think this has been sufficient awkward. How about a tour of the house?"

"Sure," I agreed. _Anything to get me out of here... _and to think, I'd been so anxious to meet my family. When we were out of hearing distance, I muttered. "You said I wouldn't bother any one. Rosalie didn't seem to like me all that much."

"Rosalie doesn't like anybody," Edward replied.

Behind me, I heard something shatter. How good was their hearing?

"Come on. I'll show you Carlisle's room."

He led me into one of the doors in the upstairs corridor and I looked in amazement at the collection of art the covered the walls. The paintings and sculptures must have spanned three centuries! Behind the room's only furniture, a computer desk, was a stout wooden cross. Some pieces were missing and it was clear that the dry wood was very old, but it seemed to have been well preserved.

Noticing my glance, Edward explained, "That was the cross at Carlisle's father's vicarage. He takes it with us whenever we move."

I nodded and began to wander through the room, looking at all the various paintings. One in particular drew my eye.

It was brightly coloured and showed old city streets and a tall building with four figures perched on the top balcony.

"Where is this?" I asked.

"Italy," Edward answered. "Volterra, to be precise."

"Who are they?" I asked, pointing to the figures on the balcony. Two were fair haired, and two had dark hair. Their faces were not incredibly detailed but one at least seemed familiar.

"This one is Carlisle," Edward told me, confirming my suspicions. "The other three are Cleo, Marco, and Arrigo. They're close friends you see and one of Solimena's patrons. They commissioned this painting and gave it to Carlisle as a gift."

"That's a heck of a gift. How did he know them?"

"Carlisle found them a few years after his change and was intrigued and delighted to find civilized, learned immortals. He had only had experience with the feral vampires that hunted London at the time. He spent almost a century with them, learning and growing to understand the vampire world.

"Arrigo was especially interested in Carlisle's control. Neither he nor any of his followers had been able to match it."

"Followers? What do you mean?"

"The three of them had joined together and begun to build something of an empire. They call themselves the Volturi. Rulers, Judges, call them what ever you will but they write and enforce the law. At the time they were only just beginning to build their power, but, as I said, they already had some support."

"What to you mean 'they enforce the law'? What law?"

"The law to stay hidden. There are of course others but they all support that rule, eventually."

"So what happened to them after the painting?" I asked.

He shrugged. "They continued to grow until they expanded their control across the world. Carlisle left to America around seventeen eighty-one and didn't hear much from them after that but as far as I know they are still in Italy, making sure that the humans don't find us out."

"And Carlisle was one of them, huh?"

"Not exactly. He was a friend, and not quite a follower, but from what he's told me, the three of them are too close to let another person in, regardless of their abilities. A shared bond of age, I think."

I sighed. And turned away from the painting. After a moment I left the room entirely.

Edward followed me out. "Are you alright," he asked, his voice anxious. "I'm sorry if I insulted you..."

"No, it's not that," I said. "Your family is so interesting, though, compared to mine. I feel so... inadequate around you."

He put his arms around me and puled me close, resting his chin on the top of my head. "

"You are anything but inadequate. You are perfect – and much more than I could ever have hoped for in my wildest dreams."

I sighed and leaned into him. "You have to say that but you have to admit that my life is boring compared to yours."

"On the contrary, I think that your life is very interesting." He paused and then said, "Come with me. I want to show you something."

He led me down the stairs and through the now empty kitchen. Eventually we came to a room which was empty except of a feinting couch and a glistening black piano. He pulled me over to the bench and sat down beside me.

I had never liked the piano. My mother had made me take lessons when I was eight or nine and I had hated it as much as any other kid my age. I had pounded out scales and melodies until my mother had finally relented.

From the second Edward's fingers touched the piano, I realized that I had misunderstood. I didn't listen to much classical music but none of what I had heard was even close to the beauty of what Edward created.

It was a simple melody but with depth and echoes so sweet and intense that my eyes filled with tears. Slowly the gentle lullaby drew to a close and I snuffled and wiped my eyes. "This is what I mean," I muttered. "I could never do this."

Edward kissed me on the forehead and murmured. "That was inspired by you. The music is all yours."

"Really?"

"Yes. You are so much greater than you realize. If only you could see yourself as I do..." he trailed off.

I hugged him tightly. "Edward, how did you find me? You're the most wonderful person I've ever met."

"Believe me, I don't understand how I could find someone as wonderful as you either."

"Excuse me?" Alice's high chirping voice called from the doorway.

"Yes, Alice?" Edward said, disappointed by the interruption.

"You sounded like you were done with the tour so we thought we'd come say hi." That's when I noticed Jasper behind her.

"Hi," I said.

"What did Rosalie break," Edward asked. He didn't remove his hand from my waist.

Alice rolled her eyes. "A vase. It was One of Esme's crystal ones, too. She was very upset."

"I must admit that Rosalie is rather..." he trailed off, searching for a word.

"Vain?" Alice suggested.

"I was going to say sensitive, actually," Edward replied. "Though I don't deny some amount of self-righteousness that she projects."

"Admit it. You think she's as vain as a peacock, you just wouldn't say so to her face. It still wasn't nice to say that about her, though."

Edward sighed. "I suppose not. And, no, I hadn't forgotten."

"What?" I asked. "I think I missed something."

"Alice and Jasper wanted to know if I had forgotten that we had a football game planned for tonight?"

"Vampires play football?"

He shrugged. "Occasionally. When you have all the time in the world, you find something to so. Emmett insisted on this match because he lost the last one."

"I see."

"Would you like to come?"

I pursed my lips. Then finally I said, "Sure, as long as I don't have to play."

Edward stood up and swung me onto my feet, then he froze. It was only for a moment and it was so small that I hardly noticed it, but I saw him glance over at Alice, who was looking at him intently, and nod slightly – really little more than a lowering of of his eyes, but I saw it. I wondered what silent conversation had passed between them.

"See you later, then," Alice said, exiting the room and pulling Jasper after her.

I sighed as she left the room. "I have to admit, that kind of ruined the moment."

"I'm sorry," Edward said, planting a kiss on my jaw. "We can stay if you like."

"What about your game? Won't Emmett be upset?"

He shrugged. "Emmett will get over it."

"No, I'll go. Maybe later," I said with a smile. "So, when are we leaving?"

"Now,

I called and left a message on my home phone telling Charlie that I would be out a little later than I had expected.

"So where are we going, exactly?" I asked as Edward pulled off the highway and onto a gravel road that seemed to go through middle of nowhere – at least, I had no idea where we were.

"There's a clearing in the middle of the forest," he explained. "fairly far out from the city. We have to be careful when we play any kind of sport that no one is going to accidentally stumble in on us. Not too mention we can get pretty loud and we wouldn't want anyone getting suspicious."

"How are we getting there?" I asked nervously. I was fairly sure I knew what the answer was and I was fairly sure I wasn't going to like it.

"We'll drive as far as we can but we'll have to run the rest of the way."

Bingo. No, this was definitely not going to be fun.

After a relatively short drive, Edward stopped the car at the end of the gravel road and helped me out.

He swung me effortlessly onto his back and said, "Close your eyes."

I did. I'd decided the last time I did this that watching the trees go past me so fast they blurred together was not an experience I wanted to repeat. It helped that Edward ran fairly smoothly which meant that, aside from the heavy wind, I could barely tell I was moving.

It was still a relief when he finally stopped. I slid limply off of his back and panted for a while before I let myself look around.

"Where's the clearing?" I asked.

"It's just through those trees. I thought you'd want to catch your breath before you saw everyone again."

I gave a wry smile. "It seems backwards that after you carried me all that way, I'm the one that needs to catch my breath."

"I'm sure you'll get use to it eventually," he assured me.

"Not if I can help it," I muttered, pushing myself to my feet. "Come on. Let's go play."

We walked through the trees into the clearing which was really more of a wide field. Emmett and Jasper were off to one side, arguing about something. Carlisle and Rosalie were watching them humourously from a few yards away and Alice and Esme were talking quietly, and much more seriously, at the other side of the field.

"What are the teams?" I asked Edward.

"Emmett and Jasper are busy figuring that out right now. They're fighting over Alice."

I frowned. "But she's so small."

Edward shrugged. Size doesn't make as much difference to a vampire and she makes up for it by being really fast and hard to catch."

After only a few more minutes, the teams were decided. Edward, Emmett, Rosalie, and Carlisle took one side of the field and the remaining three vampires took the other.

"You stay here, Bella," Esme told me with a smile as she began to walk to her side. "We need an umpire."

"She thinks we cheat," Emmet called over his shoulder.

"I _know _you cheat," Esme called back.

As soon as the game had actually started, it became clear that there was no way I could tell whether they were cheating. I couldn't even tell who was winning. The were moving so fast that their bodies blurred, only coming into focus when a point had been scored. After only a few minutes, Jasper's team was winning – at least I thought it was. I had a hard enough time keeping track of the score in a normal foot ball game, where I could actually see the players move.

After the third or forth touchdown, Edward came over to me. "How are you doing?" he asked, grinning slightly with the exhilaration. Then he frowned. "I'm sorry. You must be very bored. I can take you home, now, if you like."

I shook my head. "No, that's fine. This is actually really interesting."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I don't mind taking you home."

"I'm sure," I told him. "Have fun. Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

He kissed me again, and I smiled as his lips moved to my nose and forehead. "I think Emmett's getting impatient."

"Too bad for him," Edward mumbled into my cheek bone.

With a laugh, I pulled his lips back to mine and kissed him lovingly. His hands were in my hair and my breathing was growing quick when I pushed him away reluctantly. "Later," I assured him.

He smiled back, kissed me one last time, and headed back to where Emmett was waiting with his arms crossed over his chest.

The game picked up again and I went back to watching it. I was slowly beginning to get the hang of it and I could almost make out the players now. It looked like Alice had the ball and was making a break for the other side with Emmett close on her heels.

Then something very odd happened.

Alice froze on the field and Emmett went rocketing past her. She hardly seemed to notice. She was staring off into the distance, watching things the rest of us couldn't see.

"What's going on," Emmett asked.

The ball fell from Alice's fingers. The game was over.

I ran towards them, glad not to be excluded anymore.

"What is it?" I asked, suddenly afraid.

In answer, Edward only turned, shoving me behind him as he did so.

"What is it?" Carlisle asked, echoing my question.

"Love, what changed?" Jasper asked, anxious at his mate's sudden tension.

"The vampires... they were leaving," Alice breathed, almost to quietly for me to hear, "But they heard us and got curious."

"How long?" Carlisle asked.

"One minute and forty three seconds," Alice replied confidently.

"Edward. Can you -"

"No. There isn't time."

"Shoot," said Esme. She glanced around and bit her lip. "Alright. Alice, you sad they were just curious, right?" Alice nodded mutely. "So we'll keep playing. Maybe nothing will happen."

By some silent agreement, everyone slipped back into their spots and Alice picked up the ball from where it had fallen in the grass.

"Stay behind me and don't move," Edward whispered almost to quietly for me to hear.

Just before she returned to her position, I saw Esme's lips move though her words were to low for me to hear. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Edward nod, slowly.

"What did Esme want to know?" I asked.

"If they were thirsty," Edward replied, despair creeping into his voice.

"Edward, you said there were only three of them. Surely they won't try anything when they're outnumbered more than two to one. Nothing will happen." The words were as much for my own comfort as for his.

"Bella, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you," he breathed, barely loud enough to hear though he stood less than a foot away from me.

"It wasn't your fault," I said softly, trying to convince myself as much as him.

"Yes, it was," he disagreed. "I should have been more careful."

I sighed, doing my best not to go into hysterics and said, "There was nothing you could do. I love, you, everything will be fine."

"Thank you," he said with a small smile. "But just in case..." He gave me a passionate kiss that ended much too soon for my liking, then returned to his defensive position between me and the far edge of the forest. The seconds dragged by, and each one brought a new image of what to expect. Each breath that filled my lungs brought with it the fear of loss.


	11. Hunting Party

One hundred and thirteen seconds after Alice had spoken, three figures appeared through the thick branches of the forest. They emerged one by one to form a triangle, rather narrower than one would expect, as they approached us. The man in front was dark skinned, a luminescent sheen somehow managing to make him look pale at the same time, while the other two, standing together and lingering quite far behind the first, were both Caucasian and cadaverously pale as the Cullens were.

In moments, the Cullens formed a large cluster, facing towards the three newcomers. Unsurprisingly, I found myself hidden at the back, out of sight of any one who might be less than friendly towards me – not counting Rosalie that was. I had to admit, it was a relief. I knew the Cullens. The depth of their control, and their dislike for causing the loss of human life, and they still made me nervous. These other three were unknown and much less affectionate towards humans like me, which was enough to make me terrified.

"Good evening," the leading vampire said, his lilting voice soft, "My name is Laurent. This is James -" he gestured to the man "-and Victoria." The woman surveyed the Cullens through thick lashes and very deliberately and dismissively flipped her flaming hair behind her bare shoulder.

Carlisle nodded but didn't say any polite lies about being happy to meet them – I doubted that they would believe them even if he had. "Carlisle Cullen. This is my wife Esme, and my children Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, Emmet, Bella, and Edward." I was surprised when he heaped me in with the rest of his family, though I should have guessed he would do something of the like. I was almost more surprised at how much I liked the thought of becoming a more permanent member of his family. My hand tightened involuntarily on Edward's.

"We didn't realize that this area and its population had already been claimed. I assure you that if we had known, we would have avoided the area." The redhead, Victoria, snorted daintily – I'd never thought that was possible until I saw her do it – and I wondered worriedly what that meant. Noticing my speculation, her eyes narrowed, and then she dismissed me and looked at the man standing next to her. As if of its own accord, her hand drifted up his back, wrinkling the fabric behind it, to drape over the other shoulder, then she turned to look back at me, her eyes full of disgusted superiority. Laurent noticed our exchange and rolled his eyes. For the first time, I noticed that their eyes, so dark they were almost black, were not brown as the Cullens' were when they were thirsty, but a deep, dark red. I stiffened in surprise and panic.

"We heard you playing and wondered if you might have room for a few extra players."

"Actually we were just finishing up. Maybe another time."

"What a pity." Somehow, Laurent seemed genuinely quite upset over having missed the chance to play ball.

Edward stiffened slightly beside me and I tensed, knowing that someone had just thought something that frightened him. James sauntered forward, Victoria still hanging off his shoulder and managing to fill me with fear – or at the very least, apprehension.

"So," he said, an ominous undertone hid beneath his casual drawl, "why are you in such a hurry to leave. You're obviously planning on staying a while or you wouldn't have brought a snack." Victoria's nostrils flared and she stiffened, then relaxed, an almost feral grin spreading across her pale features; she rolled her shoulders in anticipation.

A similar ripple of tension rippled through our group as we realized that we had been discovered. The crowd tightened in front of me and I stepped closer to Edward, hugging his arm to my chest as though it were a life line, my only hope of survival.

"James," Laurent said, sharply, but James kept moving steadily forward without so much as a glance in his companion's direction. With a sigh, Laurent backed away his gaze fall to the grass ground. I may not have been an expert in vampire politics, but that was hard to miss. It seemed James, and not Laurent, was ruler of this coven.

He was within three yards of us now. Victoria unwound herself from James' arms to slink over to us, giving me the impression of a hunting cat. After a few steps, she fell into a hunters crouch, crawling towards us quickly and quietly, her fingers outspread on the ground. Her mouth opened, displaying sharp, white teeth, dripping with the same, red-tinged liquid that I had seen from Edward on that day in the meadow.

"If you've decided to suddenly cut your game short, you must have something to fear." James stopped in front of Carlisle and leaned in until their faces were less than an inch apart. "Are you afraid of us?" he asked quietly, but loud enough for the rest of us to hear. Edward and Emmet snarled almost simultaneously.

"So," James said, his voice still his casual, dangerous, drawl, "It has a bark. But does it have a bite?"

Behind me, I heard someone snicker. I spun, a moment after everyone else – except Carlisle who had the sense not to turn his back on James. Strangely, Jasper didn't turn all the way either. Instead, he turned his head enough to keep both of them within his sight. I wondered again about the 'violent history' that Edward had mentioned.

While everyone's attention had been on James, Victoria had snuck around behind us and now stood in front of me, straightening from her crouch. She inhaled deeply and said, "You smell nice. I'd bet anything you'll taste at least as good." it was the first time I had heard her speak since she had emerged from the trees and her deep, seductive voice did not fit with the character of the woman I saw in front of me.

"No!" Alice all but shrieked, a moment before Victoria struck. In a movement so fast that I hardly saw it, she had grabbed my shoulder and I felt her cool breath against my throat. Edward was faster still. Before Victoria could latch her teeth onto anything I might miss, she was almost fifteen yards away with one hand clutched to her cheek and the other clutched to her wrist. Edward stood between us, teeth bared, and I realized what must have happened. Slowly, Victoria pulled her hand away and I began breathing through my mouth, trying to stay calm despite the blood But, when she pulled her hands away, there was only the same, blue-black liquid that filled her mouth. Venom.

My shoulder hurt where she had gripped it and I was sure that once I changed I would see a hand mark clearly imprinted on it. I rubbed the tender spot gently. Victoria began rubbing her stomach in much the same way and I realized that Edward must have done more than bite her. I was almost sympathetic. Almost. As a rule, I try not to get too emotional over people who want to eat me – okay, so it was a new rule, but it was still valid.

Without warning, Victoria launched herself forward, but as my defenders tensed to spring, James was suddenly in front of her, his hands tangling in her hair. He pulled her close, kissing her cheek where the bite mark was already beginning to scar over. "Now, love, we wouldn't want to start a fight would we?" There was something odd in his voice but I couldn't quite place it. "But, you would have shared, wouldn't you, darling?" I heard him murmur. I nearly gagged. In reply, Victoria pulled herself up, wrapping her long legs around his waist and fastening her lips to his. Edward made a disgusted noise.

Laurent walked up beside us and Edward moved to stay in front of me, though it was clear that Laurent did not intend to attack.

"I must apologize for the behavior of my coven," he said, seeming actually regretful.

"Your apology is accepted," said Carlisle, suddenly beside Edward.

"I think you should leave, now," Edward said softly, in a tone that made belied his calm words.

"I believe you're right," said Laurent, with a sigh, "James, Victoria, I believe that we have outworn our welcome."

With no other communication, James released Victoria who landed delicately in front of him. She spared a moment to spit in my direction and then the three of them disappeared into the trees.

Hardly stopping to get their things, the Cullens were off in the opposite direction. Edward took me in his arms and for once, I was too busy thinking of something else to be concerned with the trees we passed. Despite the added weight of one, hundred and ten pound girl, Edward was still in the front, along with Alice and Carlisle.

"Alice?" Edward asked. I had no idea what he meant but she seemed to.

"I'm sorry Edward. Her thoughts flitted from one idea to another like butterflies. It was almost painful to watch. I don't think she was exactly right in the head before the change and I don't think it helped."

"I was no use either. I was so focused on James that I forgot he wasn't the only dangerous one in his coven."

"Why would you think that?" I asked, confused.

"Laurent isn't like James. He wouldn't want to get into any fight where he's not sure to win. James, on the other hand, doesn't think he could possibly lose. It makes him infinitely more dangerous."

"So why are we running? We already outnumber them two to one, and if Laurent refuses to fight like you say he will, than we're sure to win."

"Bella, James isn't a fighter. He's a hunter. We have to get you away from him before he can decide that you'd make a good target."

"It's too late," Alice said. "He's already made up his mind."

"How long do we have?" Edward asked.

"I don't know!" she said, sounding frustrated but not with him. "I can't see any of them clearly!"

"Why not?"

"I don't know, Edward!"

"Wait!" I said, interrupting the conversation. "What's about to happen to me?"

"I'm not sure, Bella, but I promise I'll keep you safe,"

Some how, I found that hard to believe when we were busy running for our lives through the forest. No, we were all running for my life.

We arrived at his car quickly and Alice leapt nimbly into the back, not bothering to rock the front seat forward. I got in after and Edward was driving away before I'd managed to close the door all the way. I hurried to buckle my seatbelt as the car jerked and bounced over the uneven ground.

As soon as I was finished, I glanced at the two silent vampires and snapped, "Will some body please tell me what is going on?"

Alice put an icy hand on my shoulder. "Bella, those people we just met are hunting you now."

"But you said Laurent wouldn't fight! Why are we running away?"

"We're not running, Bella, but we have to make sure you're safe before we deal with them."

"Then where are we going?" I asked. Where did they think I would be safe?

"To our house. We need to prepare."

I closed my eyes and collapsed back against the leather seat. How had I managed to get into this? A month ago, all I was worried about was making it through high school and now I'd be lucky if I'd survive the night. Why couldn't I have been smart? Why couldn't I have done what anyone else would do and left Edward alone?

If I hadn't agreed to come to his stupid game, none of this wold have happened. If I hadn't come to his house... if I'd run away when he gave me the chance... if I hadn't gone to Port Angeles...

Maybe I should have backed out when Edward gave me the chance. Maybe he'd understood when I didn't. I still loved him but this was crazy. I sighed. I was stuck with it now, though, until this whole thing got resolved. If I survived, then we'd have to see, but for now...

"We're here, Bella," Edward said, the car screeching to a halt in front of his house. He ran up to the door and I hurried after, only to run into him as he froze in the door way.

"Peace, Edward," I heard Carlisle say. "He's come to help us."

"Edward, let us in," Alice called from behind me.

Stiffly, Edward moved to the side and for the first time I saw what was bothering him. It bothered me, too. Laurent was sitting casually on the sectional, his legs crossed and his hands folded on his knees.

"Please continue," said Carlisle, sitting opposite him.

Laurent glanced once at Edward and I and then said, "James is a hunter and his games are very important to him. He will wait years, hunting you down one by one if he has to. The thrill of the hunt is his life, his obsession. Only one thing means more to him than that."

"What's that?"

He raised his eyebrows as though he thought I should know the answer to that. "His mate. Vampires are strongly devoted to their mates and he's much more strongly attached than most. From the moment they saw each other they couldn't be parted. It was rather disgusting to watch. But she doesn't like you very much I'm afraid."

"Why are you telling us?" I asked.

"I've grown tired of their games and I thought you deserved fair warning before hand that they won't give up and you won't be able to find them easily. Victoria especially is very good at staying hidden when she wants too. It's what drew me to her in the first place."

"Will you help us?" Carlisle asked his tone much more polite than mine had been.

Laurent smiled faintly as though he found the idea amusing. "I think not. Have fun." And with that, he got up and strode out the open door.

"Coward," Edward hissed once the other vampire was gone.

Ignoring him, I asked. "Where is everyone?"

"They're out looking for James and Victoria," Carlisle answered. "Bella, we will keep you safe." Then he, too, was gone.

"Bella," Edward said softly, "I promise I won't let them hurt you. You can stay here for the next few days; Alice and I can protect you."

"No!" I said sharply. "Edward I have my own life! I can't just stay here for a few days, I have to go home!"

"Bella, it's not safe.

"You can watch me just as easily there, as here," I told him stubbornly. _It's the least you can do after dragging me into this._

For all that he couldn't read my thoughts, Edward seemed to guess what I was thinking. "You don't have to stay with me when this is over, Bella," he said softly. "I'll protect you no matter what."

I sighed and closed my eyes. "I... I don't want to talk about it now. Later, when things are less... chaotic."

He nodded sadly. "I understand."

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Come on, Bella," Alice said, putting a gentle hand on my arm. "Let's take you home."

School the next day was not pleasant. I hadn't gotten any sleep the night before which would have been hard enough, but Edward and Alice hovered over me – the rest were out hunting still – to the point where I couldn't speak with my friends at all. Not to mention, I couldn't focus on any of my classes because I kept seeing James and Victoria in my head with their red eyes and sharp teeth.

Jess was mad at me at the end of the day for not talking to her, which didn't help. Angela at least understood that I was stressed, not just rude. She still left me alone but it definitely helped that she wasn't mad at me.

Edward and Alice were silent as they drove me home. Edward walked me to the door of my house, clearly stressed by the fact that I was stressed. "Do you want me to come in?" He asked.

I sighed. "Will it make a difference?"

"Probably not. But if you'd feel safer..." he trailed off.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I think I need to be alone right now."

"I think I understand. But, I just want you to know that I'll always be there for you if you want me to be."

"I know," I said, smiling at him. "I love you – a lot! – I just want to be alone. This is really hard for me."

"I know," he replied, smiling back at me. Despite the situation, I felt impossibly better at that. He kissed me hesitantly on the cheek and then stepped back to let me into the house.

As soon as I was alone, for the first time all day, I took a deep breath. I felt horrible. It wasn't even just that I knew how much danger I was in. Just thinking about all the lives that James and Victoria had taken – and might continue to take – made me shudder.

I got out the electric mixer and started to throw together some cookies. It wasn't until I was done the dough that I realized I had no chocolate chips. I went into the basement to see if we had any in the storage rooms there but we were out. I sighed. There was simply no way to make chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips.

I put on my coat and walked out to my truck. I paused with my key in the door, wondering if I should call Edward, but then decided against it. After all, the store was only five minutes away and Alice would see me leaving.

The shopping trip ended up taking longer than I had expected because I got distracted browsing the isles for other baking materials that were missing from our cupboards. I walked out some time later with a full shopping bag and sore feet.

I slipped into my car feeling much better than I had earlier that day.

Then I felt icy fingers slipping around my throat.

"Hi there, dinner," I heard Victoria whisper in my ear. Then her hand clamped over my mouth, muffling my screams.


	12. Hostages

I ached everywhere from the odd angle Victoria had held me at. It was too dark in the cold room I was in for me to see anything but I was fairly sure I was alone. My throat was raw from screaming long after I realized that no one would hear.

Although every breath I took rasped through my throat like fire, I was freezing. I rubbed my arms weakly, trying to warm them up, but I shivered again. Victoria had taken my jacket.

After a long moment, I stood in the darkness and tried, again, to find a door. I felt along the wall and walked forward slowly. It was smooth and cold under my fingers – glass maybe? A window? - until I came to the next wall, turned, and stopped as something hard jabbed into my ribs and stomach simultaneously. Feeling along with my arms, I felt two longs poles about a foot out from the wall.

_Why did they take me here? _I wondered curiously. I'd been here before, often, on my visits to Forks when I was younger.

Just then, the light's of the ballet studio came on. I was temporarily blinded by the sudden light and by the time I could see again, James' face was inches from mine.

I gasped but before I could scream, I was slammed back into the mirror, breaking it into long shards.

I'll never know how I was able to keep my head then, but I leapt to my feet and ran for the familiar archway beyond which was the door. I didn't even stop when one of the long shards whizzed past my ear to embed itself in the dark wood of the wall.

With a snarl, James appeared suddenly in front of me and threw me back against the wall with the barre.

"Ow!" I whimpered as I collapsed to the floor hugging by hands to my ribs, a few of which I was sure were broken. As hard as he had thrown me, I was lucky I didn't have a broken back.

I looked back at James, expecting another attack, but he was merely walking casually over to me.

"What do you want from me?" I cried our, hoping the question would at least make him pause before hurting me again.

He raised his eyebrows at me as though my question were ridiculous. "From you? Nothing – except for your life, of course. It's been a long time since I found a coven as large as yours and the small ones are never as much fun."

I frowned. This didn't make any sense. "So I'm... bait? You just wanted to start a fight with the Cullens?"

He smiled. "Good, good. You're quick for a human."

The insult would have bothered me if I weren't trying to stop him from killing me.

"I have to admit, though," he continued. "I didn't expect to see my black haired friend again."

'Black haired friend'? Alice? How did she know James – and why hadn't she said anything? "You know Alice?" I asked, my voice squeaking on the last syllable.

"Oh yes. She was human, then, but she slipped through my fingers. I suppose this way I'll kill two birds with one stone."

"Why did you want to kill Alice?" I asked, honestly curious though I was finding it hard to focus over the pain in my ribs and back.

"For the same reason I'm going to kill you. She had a mysterious immortal benefactor who was far too attached to her. I think he thought her visions would make for an interesting immortal."

"Visions?" I asked, confused again. "I thought that only vampires had powers."

He shrugged. "Some do, some don't. Every now and then a human will be skilled as well. Of course, everyone at the asylum thought she was mad, but he knew – and so did I. I was very disappointed when he ruined the game. He... died, shortly after."

I shuddered. "Why are you telling me all of this?" I asked him finally.

He shrugged again. "Well, you'll be dead soon anyway. What are you going to do?"

That brought me back to the present harshly. "Please just leave me alone," I murmured, trying – and failing – to keep all fear out of my voice.

"Go on. Beg," James said encouragingly. "I'm sure your lover will love that."

"You're a monster," I hissed at him angrily.

He smiled and bowed mockingly.

I looked away disgustedly but inside, I was utterly terrified. He knew too much about the Cullens. Even if they did kill him, I had a sinking feeling that I wouldn't survive it.

I jumped as Victoria appeared suddenly beside her mate. "Oh," she said sadly. "You started without me."

"It was just a warm up, darling," James murmured back. They smiled at each other and kissed again, every bit as passionately as their kiss in the field.

When they finally broke apart, I heard Victoria whisper, "They're almost here."

"Wonderful," James said turning back to me with a hungry smile on his face. Let's get started, shall we?"

I pushed myself further into the corner in an effort to get away from him but it was no use. He grabbed the front of my shirt, causing my injured ribs to ache more vigorously, and hurled me across the room. Before I could reach it, Victoria caught me and slammed me face first into the floor.

When I rolled away I could feel blood rolling down my chin and the sides of my face and I got to all fours, trying not to throw up.

Then Victoria made a disturbing and in human noise and started crawling towards me licking her lips. To my immense relief, James came over quickly and held her back. My relief vanished when he murmured, "Not yet, Love."

She looked up at him, pouting her perfect red lips, but didn't bite me.

Of course, that didn't mean they were finished with me. He kicked me, solidly enough to send me flying into the mirror again, and I whimpered as the shards of glass cut up my arms and back. Then an instant later, he was on me again and I felt myself fly through the air, only to smash into the wooden archway, directly beneath the glass shard he had thrown.

I was still trying to clear my head when James appeared crouched in front of me.

"Beautiful," he murmured, stroking my blood covered face and licking the blood off his fingers, one by one. "A pure work of art – but it needs something..." he paused a moment with his eyes on me, clearly waiting for a response. When I remained silent – more or less – he brought his hand down sharply on my left shin, snapping the bone in his iron grip.

I screamed in sheer pain and terror beyond anything I'd ever felt. Nothing I'd experienced could have prepared me for the pain of what he had just done.

"Perfect," he breathed, closing his eyes and listening to my screams and pain-filled sobs.

I blinked quickly, unable to see through the water that filled my eyes, and by the door, I thought I saw Victoria's red hair flash with movement.

Then that same iron fist wrapped around my throat, squeezing... squeezing... my head ached and I sputtered and choked, desperate for air. "Humans," James muttered disgustedly. "So weak."

With that, he thrust me back against the glass spear with all his might.

I screamed again, more loudly, as the shard sliced through bone and flesh, the pain shattering my thoughts. Their was nothing but the pain that filled me from head to toe. And it wasn't over. Edward would still come, would still fight... when would the torture end?

James took up my hand almost lovingly and brought it to his mouth slowly.

I knew what he was going to do, and that it was over now. Nothing could stop him in time, I was sure. I was in too much pain to resist.

Behind me, I heard the door of the building slam open.

"Perfect timing," James muttered.

But before he could sink his fangs into my bloody wrist, something slammed into him, pushing him away from me.

I screamed again as the force twisted me against the shard protruding from my shoulder. I saw Edward look up at the sound, despair upon his features. Throwing James away from him with all his might, he ran over to me.

"I'm so sorry, Bella. I..." something in his voice changed and I tensed with fear.

"Get Edward away from Bella!" Alice yelled as she charge toward the red-head with Jasper at her side.

Emmett came up from behind me, shoving Edward away. He glanced at me once, quickly and said, "I'm sorry." Then he entered the fray, dragging Edward with him.

Edward snarled and snapped at him but at least was able to direct his anger on the enemy rather than his family.

With the combination of tears, pain and the speed of the vampires, I couldn't easily see what was going on. Just standing was so hard and painful... It would be easier just to sleep but I clung to consciousness fearfully, not knowing what would await me if I slept.

I tried to focus on the battle but except for the occasional delighted shriek from Victoria, I could see very little of what was going on. How was it that two vampires had held seven at bay for this long?

Before I had completed the thought, I saw Edward leap forward and rip James' head from his body. I gagged, but at that point, very little could make me more nauseas than I already was, so I just hung there limply, wishing I could feel glad that we would win.

Then Victoria shrieked again, but not happily the sound was so enraged and animalistic that it took me a moment to realize who and what it was. I blinked to clear my eyes and saw Victoria cradling her mate's lifeless head in her arms.

She shrieked again and shot to her feet, then came running towards me in a blur. She paused for barely a second by the mirror to pick up one of the shards of glass by the mirror and then kept running to one of the wide, high windows along the wall to my right.

I hadn't realized that her course took her right by me until I felt the glass slicing into my stomach.

I was beyond pain now, to exhausted even to scream. I whimpered softly as she crashed through the window in a shower of glass.

I sighed. Maybe I would die now, and then it would all be over. Then, at least, the pain would stop.

"Bella? Bella, can you speak?" Carlisle was in front of me, his cool fingers feeling along my neck. It seemed that he wouldn't let me die in peace.

I nodded weakly. "I can talk," I rasped, then stopped suddenly at the pain it caused in my ribs and shoulder.

"My god," Carlisle muttered. "This is truly unbelievable."

"What it?" I whispered, trying not to move.

"That you're still conscious, for one. You've lost a lot of blood – I can't quite tell what's injured though, maybe the spleen..." He continued speaking softly to me in words that might have made sense if I had all my wits about me.

I didn't. The blood from my abdomen was beginning to soak through the fabric of my jeans and I gagged again. The same hot, sticky liquid was matted in my hair and running down my face. I must have been quite a sight.

"Where's Edward," I asked anxiously as soon as I realized that he was not with me.

"He's following Victoria," Alice answered, hurrying over to us. "He didn't want to risk hurting you more."

"Edward," I said again but I couldn't form any more words than that.

"Shh," Carlisle said soothingly. "Don't try to talk."

"Carlisle, she's lost way too much blood," Alice murmured, just loud enough for me to hear.

"I know," he said simply.

"We have to changer her," Alice said. "it's the only way."

"It's never the only way," Carlisle replied, his voice still soft and calm.

"She'll never survive other wise!"

"It isn't what Edward would want," Carlisle said.

"Screw Edward!" Alice told him, her voice rising. "She's dying!"

"No. Not if I can help it."

The next part of their conversation was lost in blackness.

"Bella? Bella?"

I opened my eyes groggily. Why hadn't the pain stopped? Why was I still here?

"Bella, we have to pull you off the wall. It's going to hurt."

Great. More pain.

"Alice get the padding ready. One... two... three!"

He pulled me away from the wall quickly but smoothly.

It hurt none the less. I screamed as the glass came out and my broken leg dragged across the floor. Why did people keep hurting me? Why wouldn't it stop?

"I'm sorry, Bella," Carlisle murmured as something was pressed against my bleeding shoulder. I barely heard him over my sobs and the ringing in my ears.

"Alice," he muttered, "I need a stretcher."

"I'll see what I can do," she said, and then she was gone.

Carlisle kept pushing and pulling painfully one me. I screamed again as he pulled my leg straight and wrapped it tightly. I whimpered as he pulled shards of glass out of my arms and taped my cracked ribs. He apologized every time he hurt me and I could tell that it hurt him too, but still, he kept going, hurting me to make me better.

After a while, Alice returned with some kind of make shift stretcher. In my current state, I couldn't see what she'd done but it was marginally more comfortable than the floor.

"Carlisle, it's a mess over there. We'll have to do some major clean up or we're going to be in a heck of a lot of trouble."

"I know, but I have to deal with Bella first. Emmett and the others can deal with the.. remains." He sighed. "Do you know if they have found Victoria?"

"She's disappeared again. I think she got away."

"I was afraid of that," Carlisle replied sadly. "Maybe she'll stay away."

"I hope so," Alice agreed. "At least we don't have to worry about James any more,: she said as the stretcher was lifted.

Alice. James. What had he said about her? I needed to tell her! She needed to know!

"Alice?"

"Yes, Bella," she asked, her voice anxious.

"James..." but the rest of my words were swallowed in darkness.

_______

I was in a hospital. I hated waking up in hospitals – mostly because, whenever I did, I knew it was because I'd done something stupid enough too get myself hurt. Again.

This time, at least, it was some one else's fault, even if that made it no less painful. I couldn't feel anything in my leg which, given how it felt before I blacked out, was probably a good thing. My head ached, but not as much as my ribs and shoulder. I couldn't complain though. Frankly I was just glad – and surprised – to be alive.

I heard some one tiptoeing in through the door and I turned my head to see that it was my mother. What was she doing here?

"Bella, you're awake!"

"Mom? What are you doing here?"

She frowned and sat at the end of my bed. "Bella, honey, Charlie called me to tell me what happened and I hurried over right away."

"But... I'm okay." Wasn't I? I was alive, wasn't I?

"Bella, you were in surgery three days ago! Yesterday they weren't sure if you would live. I was so scared." She but a hand on leg and rubbed it gently. "How do you feel?"

Three days? I'd been out that long? I blinked a few times and rolled my shoulder gently. "Not too bad." Not as bad as I should feel, given what happened. "Not great, though."

"I'm not surprised, honey. They had to practically rebuild your shoulder from scratch. Oh, sweetie, I'm so glad you're okay."

"How'd I get here?" I asked, trying to gather together the fuzzy memories of that traumatic night.

"Don't you remember?"

I shook my head, wincing. After all, if I couldn't remember, nobody would ask be any questions about it.

"The doctor said you might not. He said you had a concussion."

"What doctor?"

She frowned in concentration. "I think he said it was Dr. Cullen. His son found you. He said you'd had a fight and that you'd driven off very upset. He went after you to see if he could calm you down and found you, well, hurt. Are you sure you don't remember?"

"Yeah. Sorry." It was probably best this way. I hated lying but it was safest for everyone if she didn't know.

"Well, I guess all that really matters is that you're okay now. Do you need anything?"

"No, I think I'm fine. Did you say Edward brought me?"

"Is that his name? Yes, he brought you in." She looked over her shoulder and for the fist time, I noticed Edward's sleeping form in the chair in the corner. "He never leaves. But what's this about you two having a fight?"

"It was nothing. Just an argument over something that wasn't important." Crap! What had Edward told her? "I was just stressed because so much had changed."

She frowned. "Why didn't you call me?" she asked, sounding hurt. My mother and I were very close and I used to think I'd be able to talk to her about everything. That was before I learned about the vampires.

"I don't know. I just didn't think of it, I guess. I should have."

She leaned forward and stroked my forehead gently. "Do you want to talk now?"

"No, I think I'm okay."

"You mean aside from being in a hospital?"

"Yeah, aside from that."

"Look, Bells, if this is too stressful for you, you don't have to stay."

"It's okay, Mom. I wouldn't be able to manage all the moving around you do."

"You wouldn't have to."

"What?" I asked, surprised.

"Phil got signed. We've got a house, down in Jacksonville. It's really sweet."

"What do you mean?"

"You can come live with us again. It'll be warm – and definitely less rainy. Don't you want to go?"

"I... I don't know." Subconsciously, my gaze flicked to Edward.

My mother smiled knowingly. "I see." She may have been older than me, but she understood perfectly. "Well, your old enough to decide for yourself, I guess. I miss you though."

I smiled back. "I miss you , too, Mom." then I looked around. "Where's Dad?"

"Charlie's downstairs getting something to eat. Do you what me to go get him?"

I nodded., "Thanks Mom."

She smiled at me. "No problem."

She got up to leave but before she was out the door, I said, "Mom?"

"Yes, Bells?" She paused and turned to look at me.

"I love you."

She smiled, "I love you to, sweetie. I'll get your father."

As soon as she was out of the room, Edward opened his eyes and turned to look at me.

"Edward!" I said, smiling widely.

He didn't return it. Instead he came over quietly to take the empty seat beside my bed.

"Is something wrong?"

He looked away for a quick moment and then smiled almost sadly. "I'm wrong, Bella. Wrong for you."

"What?" I asked, my eyebrows rising almost into my hairline. "Since when?"

"I was always wrong for you, Bella, I just couldn't restrain myself." He sighed and looked down. "You should go to Jacksonville with your mother. I can't hurt you there. It would be better for you."

Of course he didn't care about what was best for him. I reached out my good hand and put it on his knee. "Safer, maybe. But not better."

"Bella it's too dangerous here. You should go."

"You don't get to make this decision. I love you. I'm staying here with you."

Without looking up, he said quietly, "I could leave."

I blinked, surprised at this unexpected suggestion. Then I swallowed anxiously, terrified that he would follow through. "You said you'd never leave," I whispered. Did he care to much to put my wants over my safety?

He looked up, finally, and sighed. "I won't leave Bella, not until you send me away."

"Then I guess you'll always be here. I don't want you to leave."

He smiled at me and squeezed my hand gently. "As you wish."

Looking at my toes, I said, "Did you catch Victoria?"

He looked down as well. "No. We chased South but we lost her trail on the Californian border. I don't expect she'll come back. I wouldn't have lost her at all but I couldn't focus on her, not knowing that you could die any second. That time was harder for me than anything else in all my life."

"But I didn't die," I murmured, patting his hand reassuringly.

"No," he replied, taking my hand in his. "I don't know what I would have done."

It was, in a way, inevitable, though. Now that I thought about it, I would be dead eventually anyway, and he would have to deal with it. As long as I was aging and he wasn't, this was something he would have to face.

Unless... "When I was in the ballet studio," I said softly, "Alice said that the only way I would live would be for Carlisle to change me."

"No," Edward hissed, straightening in his chair.

"But," I continued. "Carlisle said you wouldn't want that."

"What did he mean?"

Edward looked away. "I wouldn't choose this life for anyone, Bella – especially not someone I cared about as much as I do you."

I frowned. "You say you want me to be safe, but what could make me safer than making me one of you?"

"I don't want you to end up like me, Bella. I don't want you to become a mon-"

"Don't say it!" I said, before he could finish the word. "You are not a monster. Neither is anyone else in your family."

"How do you know?" he asked sadly. He didn't seem particularly reassured.

"Monster's kill people, not protect them."

"But don't you understand? I have killed people!"

"But you don't now," I said soothingly."That is what makes you infinitely different from James and Victoria. This -" I squeezed his hand "- is what makes you better than all of them."

Smiling now, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine. The kiss would last a long, long time.


	13. Epilogue

Victoria walked mutely through the ashes of the ballet studio where she and her mate had fought the... Cullens, they'd called themselves. They'd burned the building to the ground with James inside it. The police blamed it on rising crime in the area, but she knew.

The Cullens had killed her mate and chased her all the way to California before she managed to get away. Doubtless they thought they were done with her now. Doubtless they thought James was the only dangerous one.

She paused in the center of the room, and collapsed to her knees in the twilight. Beneath the ash and soot, James scent still lingered here. Numbly, she ran her hand through the ash and dirt and brought and handful of the dust to her nose, inhaling deeply. For a moment, his scent filled her so that she could almost imagine him with her, his lips on hers, his hands in her hair, her legs around his waist...

She gasped in pain as she opened her eyes and the image vanished. Hissing in anguish, she clutched the handful of of ash and charcoal to her breast, straining her snow white skin.

He was gone forever. Forever! She was alone now. All alone with the ashes of her mate, her love, her life. All for a pathetic human – a human who had survived when James had been murdered.

Shaking, she lifted her hand once more and opened it slowly, blowing the dust away. _I do what I can for you, James, _she thought viciously. They had taken him from her, torn him apart piece by piece, and left his ashes to blow away in the wind and rot into the ground. But he was far from finished.

She stood once more, slowly, and walked out into the twilit street, passed the warning tape surrounding the burnt building and passed the construction materials stacked around it. She walked stiffly, angrily.

He was dead. Her mate, her James, her partner, whose passion for her had surpassed anything she had ever experienced. They'd killed him. They'd killed him, and now, there was no one left to comfort her.

"Excuse me?"

Victoria's eyes snapped up, far faster than a human's could have,

In front of her was a young woman, probably in her early twenties. Her eyebrows were arched over sad brown eyes and her skin was pale from the cloudy weather. Her lips were round and full and dark, the main focus of a soft face, too round for modern beauty.

She wore a light jacket and had a bag over her shoulder inside which many books were visible. A pencil protruded from the bun at the back of her head, holding it up. A student maybe.

"Excuse me," she repeated. "Are you okay? You look like you could use some help."

Victoria still did not answer her, but instead inhaled deeply. The woman had a rich scent, warm with a hint of spice. Victoria closed her eyes and listened to the hot, wet pulse of blood the woman's veins. So close, only a yard away.

"My name's Bre," she said holding out a hand. "Can I get you a coffee or something.

"Bre..." Victoria breathed. If he were he she knew what she and James would have done. Their prey had taken days to die at times, the blood taken bit by bit, the bones broken one by one... No time for games now. Not without him. Not when his murderers lived.

"Yes, my name's Bre. Look -"

"You smell good, Victoria whispered, opening her eye again.

"What?" Bre asked, alarmed.

Victoria smiled hungrily and stepped forward, The woman had no time to scream.


End file.
